#so for the second night in a row I tried to fix it and failed and flooded the kitchen out

[beauty-grace-outer-space]

There’s a suuuuper good chance I just lose my shit entirely this weekend.

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Triangulum - Chapter 5 - Fake Fights and Failed Flights

— — — — — — —

“I still don’t know what you’re making over there, but if I could toss out a suggestion: you can’t go wrong with copious amounts of glitter~! Ooh, or flames spray-painted on the side! Makes for a great accent to any art project!”

Bill’s remark didn’t even earn so much as a glance from Ford, his gaze fixed solely on the desk before him as he continued to work on his mysterious project.

A project which Bill had continued to try and get a glimpse of every time Ford stepped away from his desk to fetch more—just as mysterious—supplies. But much like the first time, any attempt to stretch or crane his neck for a peek at the desk’s contents only ended in failure.

And at one point, resulted in Ford’s only acknowledgment of him throughout the entire process—in the form of propping one of his books upright on the desk, to further block his line of sight. An action that had earned a drawn-out eye roll on Bill’s end; somebody was being dramatic for the sake of dramatics.

Eventually, however, Ford rose from his chair a final time and reached for the mysterious whatever that waited on the desk before him. And it was only once he turned back towards the far side of the study and reapproached the rope circle that Bill finally got a clear look at the fruits of the man’s labor.

“…A sock puppet. Adorable.”

Sure enough, Ford had haphazardly sewn googly eyes and little pipe cleaner arms to a worn sock, one that Bill assumed had come from the emergency stash of clothes he kept up in the bathroom. It was a rush job, far more amateur than the work he would normally put into an artisanal project. But even a clueless idiot could take one look at his creation and coin it as a puppet of sorts.

After a double-check of the stitching to make sure the various parts would stay connected to the sock, Ford knelt down just outside of the rope circle before setting the crude little puppet down at his feet—

—and he waited.

Bill watched him for a few minutes, eyebrow raised, before—

Ah.

Okay, he knew what was happening now. 

“Trying to contact the poor sucker whose body I’m playing puppetmaster with?” he guessed aloud. “Come on, Sixer, you can’t pretend you aren’t~!”

“They’re likely to give me more answers than you ever will.”

Both of Bill’s eyebrows shot further up his forehead. After the many times Ford had ignored him throughout the past day, it was truly a surprise to get an actual response out of him!

Both a surprise and an annoyance, one that earned him a hard raspberry from Bill—which was immediately followed by the loud sound of him smacking his lips with discomfort. Eugh—it just felt so wrong to have a tongue that wasn’t tenderly and carefully tucked beneath his eyeball. Or rows of teeth that pressed uncomfortably against each other, as opposed to retracting into slots around his eyeball when not in use.

Oh, right, he was mocking Ford—“I mean, you say that, but out of the two of us, which one was refusing to talk all night?” he taunted. “I mean, I tried and tried to have a nice chat—ask about what you’ve been up to for the past few months, how the family’s been—but you were being just as stubborn as ever.”

Ford didn’t respond, his gaze fixed solely on the puppet as he waited for something to happen. And Bill couldn’t help but let his own eyes fall to the crude little sock creation as well, while he also waited in just-as-curious silence. 

Sure, Birdbrain had plunked him back down in a human body, but they hadn’t elaborated on where they’d be getting that body in the first place. Heck, they’d been downright sneaky about what body they’d planned on sticking him into, deliberately avoiding any specifies right up until the second before they zapped him outta their mindscape. 

But unless they somehow possessed the ability to create a brand new body from nothing, they would’ve had to get his vessel from somewhere. 

And if they'd actually resorted to pulling out the soul of some unlucky chump and recycling the leftovers for him to use as his own, then Bill couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t the tiniest bit curious about what said chump was like in the personality department. 

…Of course if they were hoping to get their body back from him, then they were straight-up outta luck in that regard. Finders keepers, pal! 

But hey, no harm in being a little curious about his vessel's origins. Curiosity killed the cat, after all—and a dead animal here and there always added a delightful splash of color to the room.

The two of them waited a minute, two minutes, five minutes—

But the puppet remained an immobile lump on the hard, wooden floor.

“Now, I might be wrong,” Bill finally spoke up after their waiting period hit the seven-minute mark. “But I feel like something should’ve happened by this point. Just a guess, though!”

Ford remained silent, eyes still fixed on the puppet—

—before he too decided to call it quits, and rose to his feet. “Well, I suppose that answers a few questions,” he muttered to himself. “Alright, on to the next step…”

Bill bit back the urge to pester Ford with an inquiry of: “Oh, and what’s the next step, Smart Guy?” and instead kept his attention on the sock puppet as Ford headed back to the desk. Even if nothing had actually happened, it had still given him a few more hints about the kind of body possession he was dealing with at the moment.

If Birdbrain had done some soul switcharoo-ing to free up a body, the original soul would’ve likely pulled a Pine Tree and used whatever other vessel they could get their hands on—in order to communicate as much to anyone willing to listen. 

So if they hadn’t been tempted by the puppet equivalent of the bargain bin—nobody’s first choice but it would do in a desperate pinch—then there were a few possibilities.

One: they had already found a vessel somewhere else to claim as their own. An unlikely guess if his theory of Ford finding him close to the Shack turned out to be correct—a soul whose body was being temporarily borrowed by someone would ideally stick as close to the body as possible. Or at least, if someone else had found a way to parade Bill’s body around as their own, he knew for a fact that he’d personally be hovering around it at all times and annoying the thief into giving it back.

Two: Birdbrain had thought ahead and decided to keep a tight leash on the soul, to prevent it from trying to take its body back. A possibility more likely than the first, although Bill had no way of clarifying this fact without finding some way to contact Tangy at all.

His brow furrowed as his thoughts switched gears to that smug, feathered jerk. He still had plans to play their dumb game, but he’d already wasted most of the past day being tied to a chair. How was he supposed to track down the stupid little bricks to their stupid little charm if he couldn’t even move from this stupid little chair?

Concerns to gripe about later—Right now, he was on to possibility number three; the body had no former host, and Birdbrain has just crafted him a new body from scratch.

Making something from nothing was a task only the most powerful of entities could perform. Bill would know from experience—he’d been able to do it once he’d escaped from the Nightmare Realm and ventured into this dimension, crafting a beautiful, three-dimensional pyramid body for himself. 

How he missed that body dearly—he had even sprung for a square base over a triangular one, just to mix things up a little bit. Sure, it’d mostly been a spur-of-the-moment idea, but settling his consciousness into such a form had just felt so right for him. A rightness that he would probably unpack at some point in the future, when he no longer had to focus on the task at hand.

But creating an entirely new, physical vessel from within the mindscape itself, all without a rift to the dimension where it would be used? 

That was something that even he hadn’t been able to accomplish. If he had, he wouldn’t have needed the help from mortals with crafting a portal in the first place—he could’ve simply cut out the middle man, poofed a ready-made vessel into existence, and used that to build the portal himself.

If Birdbrain possessed that much power, then—

“A-ha! Found it!”

Bill was snapped from his thoughts by the sound of Ford’s voice, and he looked up to see him approaching the circle again. “Yeesh, took you long enough,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to bore me to death with all your dull research and secret art projects~!”

“I do have my reasons for both,” Ford admitted as he drew closer. “That much I am willing to disclose to you.”

“Oh~?” Bill perked up with curiosity. “And what reasons are those?”

As Ford finally came to a stop outside the circle and knelt down to pick up the sock puppet, Bill could see something cradled in one of his hands. 

A small burlap sack, hardly bigger than his palm.

“I needed to determine the proper dosage to knock someone of your stature out cold.”

—oh, he was not serious!

The puppet was dropped inside the rope circle near his feet, and before Bill could finish his irate warning of: “Stanford, don’t you dare—”, Ford was already tossing the bag’s contents at his face.

Bill sputtered as a pink burst of fairy dust hit him square in the mouth, yanking his arms desperately against his restraints in the hopes of freeing one so he could wipe his face clean. 

But it was only a matter of seconds later that the sleep effects start to overtake his vessel’s fragile immune system, and his body drooped forward with exhaustion. 

He saw Ford step into the circle and continue towards him, reaching a hand into his pocket—

—and Bill managed one feeble kick of his leg before he once again slipped into unconsciousness.

— — — — — — —

“Okay, get a load of this~!”

After a quick glance back at the younger teens to make sure she had their attention, Wendy pulled a flashlight from her belt loop and took aim at the nearby half-pipe. One press of the button later and the ramp had been shrunken down to a size more suitable for skateboarding ants, rather than people or Abominable Bro-men.

With a pleased grin, Wendy strolled over to scoop it up off the ground. “You guys have no idea what kind of geniuses you were to put this thing together,” she said, giving it a light shake to clear away the miniscule soda cans. “It makes cleaning up the exhibits soooo much easier!”

“I just can’t believe I never thought to use it for cleaning before,” Dipper said from where the two of them were seated. “Do you know how easy it’d be to clean under my bed if I could just shrink it first? Or how much time I could save on washing clothes if they were half-an-inch tall?”

“Sounds like you’ve got a possible patent on your hands,” Wendy said, setting the shrunken half-pipe into a storage box. “But I came up with the cleaning idea, so I want at least seventy percent of the cut.”

“Aww, what? I’m the one who invented the thing,” Dipper pointed out. “Forty-sixty split where I’m getting the sixty, or no deal.”

Wendy rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine, what if we make it fifty-fifty but I get to pick the name?”

“No way! I made it, I should get to name it!”

“Oh, yeah?” 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “So what did you name it?”

At this question, Dipper suddenly became very interested in the dirt beneath his shoes. “...I mean, I said I should get to name it, not that I’ve actually named it yet,” he muttered weakly. “But you know, if you happen to have a name already picked out, I’m open to suggestions or whatever…”

With a laugh, Wendy lightly tapped the flashlight against her leg as she pondered ideas. “What about…the Shrink-and-Scrub?” she suggested. “The main words start with the same letter, it’s catchy…would probably snag the attention of overworked parents or something.”

“Not bad, not bad,” Dipper mused thoughtfully. “But you’re not really scrubbing with it, are you? We could get slapped with a false advertising charge.”

“Ooh, good call! Whaddaya think, Mabel, you got any good name ideas?”

Dipper turned to face his sister, seated on the ground next to him with her attention on her phone. At Wendy’s question, however, she lowered the screen with a contemplative look. “The…Shrink-and-Span? Like spick-and-span, but there’s shrinking? And it still sounds all clean-y and stuff?” 

She placed her phone on the ground next to her so she could make a growing-shrinking motion with her hands. “Also Span, like Ex-span…d? It’s almost a pun and people love puns!”

Her arms were thrown into the air with bright enthusiasm, but it was only seconds later before both her posture and expression sank again. “I dunno…”

While she slipped her chin back into one hand and her phone back into the other, Dipper and Wendy exchanged a knowing look. “Man, even when you’re down in the dumps, you’re still better at this than both of us,” Wendy said.

Mabel’s response was a sad hum, and Dipper scooted closer to place a hand on her shoulder. “Still worried, huh?” he asked. “I thought the streamer thing would’ve made you at least a little bit excited.”

“I can’t work my Mabel Magic on the shack until everything’s all cleaned up,” Mabel explained. “Which means I gotta sit and think about Bill and Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford and everything else we had to worry about last year!”

Her hands once against returned to the air as she continued to speak: “We were gonna spend so much time with both Stan and Ford this summer! But now that big, dumb, pointy, jerky…jerkface is back and they’re fighting because of him, and—and—”

Rather than finish her sentence, she reached to her sweater collar and pulled it up over her face with a groan—an action that earned a comforting shoulder pat from her brother. “Come on, Mabel, you’re not really gonna believe what Bill said about Stan and Ford fighting, are you?”

“Yeah,” Wendy added. “Isn’t the guy, like, a notorious liar or something? Who cares if he says they’re fighting?”

“It’s not what he said,” Mabel explained, pulling the collar back down past her mouth. “It’s what they’re doing! I mean, you and Grunkle Stan went to give Ford his breakfast, right?”

She directed this question at Dipper, who nodded in response. “Yeah, so?”

“Well, what happened when you did?”

“Not a whole lot,” Dipper said, and began to tick off his fingers. “We went to Abuelita’s bedroom, Bill was trying to be as creepy as possible, we went out into the hallway to talk about Ford’s plan—”

His hand sank a bit. “—Stan started getting upset because Ford wasn’t letting him help,” he finished defeatedly. “And then I…left to go up to the bedroom.”

Mabel pointed to Wendy, who had occupied herself by taking aim at another exhibit. “And what happened after that?”

“Well…Stan came storming up the hallway,” Wendy began, placing the newly-shrunken exhibit into the box with the others. “And then he—”

She hesitated to reply for a few seconds, before pressing a hand to the back of her neck. “—he punched the wall and went out to the boat.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re fighting, though!” Dipper added quickly. “It could mean anything! Maybe Bill was getting on Grunkle Stan’s nerves, and he got frustrated before he…stormed away and punched a wall about it?”

A pause. “…Even though he already punched Bill in the face last night and probably wouldn’t have to just punch a wall if Bill was getting on his nerves again?”

Mabel flumped over her knees with another groan. “You see? They are fighting! And now Grunkle Ford’s down in his lab doing lots of secret sciencey stuff, while Grunkle Stan’s over on the boat, doing secret boaty stuff—”

They all turned their heads in the direction of the Stan-O’-War 2 before she continued: “They’re doing stuff by themselves instead of together, like last year!”

She pulled her collar back over her face. “I don’t want things to be like last year…”

While Dipper gave her shoulder another comforting pat, Wendy kept her attention fixed on the Stan-O’-War 2 for a bit longer, before letting it travel across the yard towards the waiting Manotaur stage at the edge of the woods.

A stage which she eyed for a second, then the flashlight in her hand for another, before turning back to the twins with a wink. “Hey, you know, we never got around to having that fight yesterday,” she said. “You dorks up for—oh, wait, lemme just—”

She held up the Shrink Ray and fired it at the stage, quickly rushing to shake it clean of any debris left from the previous day’s performance. And once it was properly cleared and regrown to its original size, she spun around to face them again. “Alright, so now that we don’t have to worry about stepping on broken glass and wood, you dorks up for a little random gratuitous violence to get out some of those bad Bill feelings?”

Dipper’s mouth curled into a small smile as he gave his sister’s shoulder a light nudge. “Whaddaya think, Mabel? Would punching out some of those feelings about the jerky jerkface make you feel better?”

There was a pause, before Mabel pulled the collar back down again with a curious peek. “Can I pretend you’re Bill while we fight?”

After another wink in her direction, Wendy slapped a hand over one eye. “Come on, Falling Star!” she said in a high-pitched voice. “Betcha wanna punch me real hard in my stupid, triangle face!”

With a grin, Mabel bounded to her feet with delight. “Actually, he calls me ‘Shooting Star’,” she corrected. “But if you do that funny voice again, I’m so in!”

“Atta girl,” Wendy said, the hand over her eye shifting into a thumbs up before she broke into a sprint toward the stage steps. “Come on, let’s get our swings in before Soos and Melody notice that I’m taking my break!”

— — — — — — —

“Massive Maude? Nah, nah, that wouldn’t work—little jerk can’t leave town. Ahab’s Harpoon through the chest? Nope, can’t kill him—”

Stan flipped to the next page with a huff, his fingertip trailing down past every little location, creature, and discovery Ford had listed during their oversea adventures. 

And as he’d initially suspected, most of the potential ways to rid themselves of a pesky triangle demon involved killing Bill outright—deeming themselves a no-go, according to Ford’s previously-established mumbo-jumbo about how they couldn’t kill the body.

Stan let out another gruff sigh as he slammed the journal shut. Yeesh, his only lead and so far it was proving to be completely useless. Too bad Ford had made the choice to chuck all the other journals down into the Bottomless Pit. It had probably been really cathartic for him, but in hindsight, they would’ve really come in handy at a time like this—

“Wait a sec—”

He pressed a hand to his chin, the metaphorical ding of a lightbulb almost audible as an idea began to form. It was a longshot after what happened last year—so much was scattered after the kids turned the Shack into a massive fighting robot that he wasn’t sure if there would be anything left to find.

But on the other hand, the only thing that had managed to pry open his safe in the past had been straight up dynamite. Meaning anything that had been locked away during last summer’s rigamarole had a fifty-fifty chance at still being there to this day.

Moving the hand to his hair, he turned his gaze to the door. The idea also required him to venture back into the house, which came with the risk of running into Ford again.

And the last thing Stan wanted or needed was to get into another row with him, especially not in front of everyone else. 

Not that he wouldn’t deserve getting an earful from Ford after what he’d said earlier, but—

After letting the hand drag back down his face as slowly as possible, he exhaled a groan and made his way across the room to the door. Heck with it—even if Ford still wanted to handle all of this alone, at least Stan could try to be of some use to him and get all his research together in one place. Whether or not he wanted to use it was up to Ford himself, but at least he’d have the option if Stan’s intuition turned out to be correct.

Plus even if it was a longshot, could he really call himself a true gambler if he cowered away from risky odds?

…Not to mention his office was pretty close to the stairs and he could always make a mad dash back to the boat if Ford came up the hall.

— — — — — — —

“Alright, squirts, let’s see who can knock me down!”

Wendy raised her fists with a determined look. “Come on, who wants to go first?”

From the opposite end of the stage, Mabel pressed her own hands to her mouth in a giggle. “Hey, I thought you said you were gonna act like Bill while we fought?”

“Yeah, no sense in getting out these bad Bill feelings without the Bill part, right?” Dipper added.

With a nod of agreement, Wendy’s hand returned to her eye as a wide, devious smile spread across her face. “Hahahaha, look at me!” she said in that same high-pitched voice from before. “I’m a stupid triangle who throws bad parties and wears a dumb hat!”

While the twins dissolved in a fit of laughter, she stomped around the stage in an exaggerated fashion. “I think I’m the coolest and most powerful guy in the world, but I was defeated by an old man punching me in my stupid, dumb face!”

“Don’t forget kittens and tickles!” Mabel jeered in delight.

“I was defeated by kittens, tickles, and an old man punching me in my stupid, dumb face! Do-do-dodo, I’m so stupid and terrible!”

She stuck her tongue out for an extended raspberry—an action that only earned more laughter—and made a beckoning motion towards Dipper with her hand. “Come on, Pine Tree!” she taunted. “Betcha can’t knock me on my sorry, triangle butt!”

After a few deep breaths to compose himself, Dipper raised his fists. “Betcha I can!”

“Aww, wait, why’s he get to go first?” Mabel whined. “Didn’t we come over here so I could get out some of my bad Bill feelings?”

“Well, yeah,” Dipper said. “But I mean, I’ve got beef with Bill too. And throwing a couple of punches about it would probably be fun.”

“Rock-paper-scissors to see who goes first?” Wendy suggested.

The twins exchanged another look—and after a quick three rounds, Mabel was left disappointed while Dipper took his spot on the stage near Wendy. However, her sour mood was quickly replaced with a fistpump and several supportive cheers of: “Go, Dipper! Play dirty if you gotta!”

Dipper chuckled. “Mabel, come on, I’m not gonna—”

Without warning, he rushed at Wendy with a charging fury and threw as much of his weight against her body as he could muster. Despite the unexpected attack, Wendy managed to stay solid on her feet—

—until Dipper’s arms were suddenly wrapped around her lower legs and he gave a sharp yank towards his own body, causing her to stumble and fall hard to the stage from a lack of balance.

Still clutching her legs, Dipper stared with a look of complete bewilderment on his face—as if his own successful attempt to bring her down had surprised even himself. “Haha, woah—I can’t believe that worked!” he said with a shaky laugh. “I’ve never actually tried that with anyone but Waddles before!”

“Woo! Go Dipper!” Mabel called, clapping her hands with proud enthusiasm. “I’ll bet if you’d done that to the real Bill, he would’ve been soooooo embarrassed!”

From the stage, Wendy let out a laugh of her own. “She’s not wrong. Also, you can let go of me now.”

With a yelp of surprise, Dipper dropped her legs in an instant. “Ah—sorry!”

Despite the hard thump of her legs against the stage, Wendy was quick to pull herself up into a proper kneeling position. “No worries, dude,” she reassured him with a grin. “Pretty sweet trick, though. Where’d you learn that?”

“A few months back, Waddles found the secret stash of snacks I hid under my bed and kept being real determined to get to them,” he explained. “It was either establish dominance and learn how to drag him out from under the bed by his lower half, or admit defeat to a pig.”

He flexed his arm with a smile. “And guess who didn’t have to admit defeat to a pig~?”

“And now you know how to knock down Wendy!” Mabel called from her spot. “Sounds like someone needs to give Waddles a well-earned thank you later.”

Wendy raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you just move your snack haul somewhere else?”

“Closet’s too full of Mabel’s sweaters and the dresser makes everything taste like lint,” Dipper said matter-of-factly.

“Well, either way, color me impressed,” Wendy said, before looking to where Mabel was situated. “Alright, Mabel, you’re up next~!”

Dipper approached her, holding his hand out for a hi-five. “Go get ‘em!”

Mabel slapped his hand with gusto as they passed each other and bounded over to where Wendy waited for her. “Okay, ‘Bill’,” she said, raising her fists. “Put ‘em up!”

Winking in return, Wendy slapped a hand back over her eye and thumbed the other across her nose. “Alright, Shooting Star,” she said with a fake sneer. “Let’s see what you got!”

“Woo! Go Mabel!” Dipper cheered from the side.

With a laugh, Mabel took a fighting stance of her own—

—only for her attention to shift towards something else at the far end of the yard. 

The other two followed her gaze over to the Stan-O’-War 2, where Stan could be seen exiting the cabin and making his way across the deck towards the ladder. With a smile, Mabel cupped her hands around her mouth and called loudly: “Hey, Grunkle Stan, over here!”

While his body language was low as his feet touched the ground, Stan perked up at the sound of Mabel’s voice—and his mouth spread into a smile when he turned around to see the rest of the kids gathered with her. 

He moved towards them with quick, determined steps—or at quickly and determined as a man his age could move—before he eventually slowed to a stop near the stage. “Whatcha gremlins gremlinin’ about out here?” he asked, propping his arms over the edge.

“They’re wrestling me while I pretend to be Bill,” Wendy explained. “Since they can’t exactly punch the real thing right now, I thought maybe getting a few swings in at someone pretending to be him would do the trick.”

Mabel hurried to Stan and seated herself near him, legs dangling down over the side. “Dipper won his fight!” she said excitedly. “And I was about to fight her next!”

“I pulled her legs out from under her,” Dipper elaborated, as he followed in his sister’s steps and seated himself on Stan’s opposite side.

Stan raised an eyebrow at Dipper. “Wo-ow, first the body hair and now you’re actually winning fights? You really are growin’ into a tried-and-true Pines, ain’tcha, kid?”

He reached up to plap a hand against the top of his hat. “You didn’t hear that from me, though, so don’t go gettin’ a big head about it.”

While Dipper beamed with pride, Wendy shot him a finger gun. “What about you, Mr. Pines?” she asked. “You up for getting a little of that Bill aggression outta your system?”

“Like you gotta ask,” Stan said. “Don’t think I should be wrestlin’ any of you about it, though. Not unless you’re lookin’ to get snapped in half.”

“I take offense at the implication that you could snap me in half,” Wendy said, although her grin implied otherwise.

“I take offense at the implication that I couldn’t.”

He let out a chuckle at that, one that slowly petered out into a halfhearted grumble. A sound that made the twins exchange a look of curiosity before Mabel asked: “So what’ve you been doing out here, Grunkle Stan?”

“Wendy said you went outside to the boat,” Dipper explained. “But she didn’t say why.”

Stan looked to Wendy with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, she did, did she?”

“What, was I not allowed to tell your beloved great-niece-and-nephew where their great-uncle had gone?” Wendy asked innocently, and leaned over to place a hand atop each of the twin’s heads. “They were just worried about how you missed breakfast.”

“Yeah, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel added, before her expression fell. “Plus Grunkle Ford was heading down to the basement with Bill, and he said that the two of you were fighting…”

At the mention of Ford, the gruffness in Stan’s expression shifted. “Ford said we were fighting?”

“Nah, Bill did,” Dipper corrected. “Probably to try and get a rise out of us.”

He cast a look beyond Stan over to Mabel. “Which is why Grunkle Ford told us not to listen to anything he says.”

“I’m not listening to him,” Mabel insisted. “Plus, weren’t you were the one who said they seemed really tense in the hallway earlier!”

“All I said was that if Grunkle Stan really needed to punch Bill again, he would’ve done it instead of just punching a wall,” Dipper said, then glanced hesitantly at Stan. “But, uh—is everything okay between you two? You seemed really stressed earlier, and y’know…you didn’t go down with Ford to take care of Bill.”

Stan looked between them, the uncertainty in their features near identical to the faintest hints of concern threatening to peek their way through his own. And with a strained inhale to force it all back down again, he stood up straight and pointed a finger at them. “Ford’s absolutely right, you shouldn’t trust a word outta that jerk’s mouth,” he said. “Whatever’s goin’ on with the two of us, it ain’t any of Bill’s business and it definitely ain’t a fight.”

“But it’s something?” Wendy chimed in.

“It’s somethin’ that ain’t any business a’yours either,” Stan said firmly, giving her a wave of his hand before pointing it back at the younger twins. “And that goes double for you two. Like I told you last night, you’re here to have fun for the summer. Don’t go gettin' yourselves all worked up over all this Bill stuff or the stuff with me and Ford, alright?”

Mabel let her body flump forward until her forehead was gently pressed against the tip of his finger. ““But we wanted to have fun over the summer with both you and Grunkle Ford,” she pointed out. “How can we do that if he’s too busy dealing with Bill? Or if you two are fighting?”

His expression softened at this motion and he let his hand fall. “Well, now, I can’t give an answer to that first question—lean back again for a sec, Pumpkin—” 

While she obliged, Stan rotated himself around to lean his back against the stage. “Like I was sayin’, I can’t give an answer to that first one,” he continued, draping one arm around her body. “But as for the second—just because the two of us are buttin’ heads about all of this doesn’t—”

He hesitated for a millisecond, before continuing: “—it doesn’t mean we’re fighting. And it doesn’t mean that the rest of the summer’s gonna be a bust, alright? Just means that we’re gonna have to deal with some rough patches first.”

He turned to Dipper, slinking his other arm around his shoulders. “And as for you, you little knucklehead—you heard Ford earlier; he’s got himself a plan to deal with our little yellow headache down in his lab. And if he needs help, he’ll ask for it!”

“Maybe…” Dipper agreed halfheartedly. “Still, I hate to agree with Bill about anything, but he did have a point about Grunkle Ford’s ideas not exactly being the best ones out there after a full night with no sleep…”

“Ugh, he said that?” Mabel asked with a sneer.

“Yeah,” Dipper said, disgust painting his own expression. “He was practically rubbing it in Ford’s face.”

“Hey, hey, what did I say?” Stan said. “Don’t believe a word outta that little creep's mouth! You know he’s just tryin’ to get under your skin, so he ain’t worth the time of day.”

With a sense that the fight was going to be paused for a bit, Wendy hopped down from the stage and aimed the shrink ray towards the mermaid tank. “You know, Dr. Pines probably would get rid of Bill much quicker if he had someone helping him down there.”

Stan narrowed his eyes at her. “Hey, come on, don’t you start now.”

“I’m just saying,” Wendy continued, before pressing the shrink button. “I mean, I’m sure he’s got his reasons for going at it alone—

Once the tank was shrunk, she strolled over to scoop it up from the ground. “—but working together took the little fucker down last time, didn’t it?”

She tilted the small tank forward and let the water—the volume now barely enough to fill a teacup—spill out over the grass. After giving it a few additional shakes for good measure, she spun on her heels back to face the others—

—only to be greeted by mirrored looks of shock on all three of their faces. “...What?”

More surprised blinking followed as they stared at her with mouths agape, before Stan finally slapped a hand to his forehead. “Are you kidding me, Wendy?! I worked so hard not to swear in front of these kids last year and you go and throw all of it out the window in a single, goddamn sentence!”

“I’m just more surprised that you swore at all,” Mabel said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before!”

“Come to think of it, I actually don’t remember hearing anyone swear around here last summer,” Dipper said thoughtfully. “Which is such an oddly specific thing to…I dunno, not hear? Kids swear all the time at school, Mom and Dad swear at home sometimes—”

“I know you let out a very hearty f-word the other day when you bumped your toe on the coffee table,” Mabel added.

“It was the left pinky, I was completely justified and will not apologize.”

“It is weird!” Wendy agreed, before tucking the mermaid tank into the storage box. “Actually, I got this totally wild story to go with it—one I was trying to tell Stan yesterday before all this dumb Bill stuff started.”

After tucking the flashlight back into her belt loop, she raised her hands for emphasis. “Okay, so you remember how the couch we found in the woods last year was like, mega-infested with rats?”

“Dipper screamed so loud when one tried to crawl up his legs!” Mabel said with a grin.

“Once again; moment of weakness, it could’ve easily happened to anyone.”

“So anyway, Soos, Melody and I managed to get most of ‘em out of the house,” Wendy continued. “But after that, something felt different about the town. Not bad different, just…different.”

“Elaborate,” Stan said.

“Well, there was the time when Nate and Lee got together and have kinda been having an on-off thing going on since,” she said, and began to tick off her fingers. “Then at some point, one of the Manotaurs decided that she felt more comfortable being called Womanotaur instead—all the boys came together and collectively punched a piece of metal until it was dented into the right shape for a celebratory carabiner—”

“Ooh, ooh, and at another point your dad and Mayor Tyler started dating?” Mabel guessed.

“Yeah, yeah, something like that,” Wendy said, looking mildly annoyed for a second. “Couple of folks also started realizing some things about themselves in a similar way, people started swearing a lot more than they did last year—

She tossed her hands in the air. “—and all of that only started happening after the rats were gone!”

“That sounds like a load of stupid fresh from the stupid factory,” Stan said. “But also I wouldn’t put it past this town to have some weird rats be the source of everyone’s inability to swear or for two men to start mackin’ on each other or something.”

“Everything going alright out here?”

Everyone turned to see Soos and Melody approaching from the shack, clipboards and a large box of party decorations in hand. “We figured Wendy would probably be done with cleanup by now,” Melody explained. “So we thought we’d start bringing out the decorations.”

“Did we give you enough time for amusing and exposition-y conversations that would be stimulating enough to get you through the work quicker?” Soos asked..

“Yeah, yeah, just one sec—” Wendy said, and turned back to the Manotaur stage. “Alright, everybody clear outta the way.”

Mabel’s lower lip stuck out in a pout. “Aww, we’ve gotta finish cleaning up? But we didn’t get to have our fight! Again!”

“Maybe not, but it did distract you long enough to get to the decorating part, right?” Dipper pointed out, and hopped down from the stage. “Wasn’t that the point in the first place?”

“Mmm, I guess,” Mabel said sadly as she hopped down after him. “Still, would’ve been fun to fight Wendy while she’s pretending to be Bill.”

Soos raised an eyebrow at Wendy, who shrugged in response. “We were working out our feelings,” she explained. “But since we’re moving on to the actual decorating part, how’s about we put a pin in that fight for now and work on drowning this place in decorations?”

She raised the flashlight and took aim for the stage. “Also again, step outta the way or you’re gonna get caught in the crossfire.”

Once the three of them had cleared away from the stage, Wendy once again shrank it to a more manageable size. While she stored it away with the other exhibits, Soos reached a hand into the box of decorations. “Like I said earlier, we’ve got just about every color of streamer under the sun! Plus some colors under the moon, too!”

He pulled out a few rolls of streamers and waved it in front of Mabel. “Who wants to toss a bunch of them up onto the roof like they’re TP-ing the Shack, but with color~?”

Despite Mabel’s initial disappointment towards another postponement of the fight, a smile began to creep its way through her features at Soos’ suggestion. “Oh, like you’ve gotta ask~!”

She reached for one of the rolls before casting a look at Stan. “You wanna help us decorate for the party, Grunkle Stan?”

“Nah, I actually came out here for a reason,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Gotta go fetch somethin’ from my office.”

He gave her a thumbs up as he started making his way towards the porch. “You kids have fun, though, and no more stressin’ about all this Bill stuff, okay?” he said, then looked over to Wendy. “Also lemme take a look at that shrink-thing later, Wendy! You could make a fortune with a doo-dad like that!”

“We’re already workshopping names,” Wendy called in return.

A second thumbs up was his response as he headed up the porch steps and disappeared out of sight. Mabel continued to stare at the porch, optimistic expression sinking back into a look of sadness until Soos gave the streamer bag another shake. “Check it out, Mabel! The lady at the store even said she named one of the shades of pinkish-purple after you! She calls it ‘Pink-Mab-urple!”

After staring for a few more seconds, she finally turned to Soos with a grin. “Uh, why didn’t you start with that, Soos? Slap a roll of Pink-Mab-urple in my hand and let’s get this streamer train rolling!”

— — — — — — — —

With all the stress of the past twenty-four hours, Ford had almost forgotten what it was like to feel relaxed.

Granted, he hadn’t felt truly relaxed since his early childhood. But the past nine months up until Bill’s return had been the closest he’d gotten to recapturing that ease of his adolescence.

And for the fleeting moment before the fairy dust made impact with Bill’s face, a surge of anxiety rushed through him as the possibility of the dust losing its potency after decades of disuse reared its ugly head. That by some cruel twist of fate, it simply wouldn’t work against Bill at all.

But within seconds, Bill slumped like a lifeless ragdoll against the chair’s restraints and Ford could physically feel some of the stress melt away from his being.

Not all of it; there was always a chance that the fairy dust hadn’t worked and that Bill was simply pretending to be knocked unconscious. But the sight alone was enough to grant him the smallest sense of comfort.

Still—

He finally pulled out the hand he had slipped into his picket after tossing the dust, a small pocketknife clutched tightly in his grasp. After a few more seconds, he flicked open the main blade and knelt in front of Bill’s body.

He hesitated—hand trembling around the weapon as the temptation to do more than a simple act of research examination bubbled up inside his chest. But with a shake of his head, he reached for one of Bill’s restrained hands and lightly pressed the tip of the knife into his palm.

Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to hurt if he was truly faking his unconscious state. And after a few seconds passed with no vocal complaints from Bill, Ford let out an exhale of relief.

He wasn’t faking. At least there was that fact.

But Ford also knew not to let his guard down completely, nor was he foolish enough to think that the fairy dust’s effects would last forever. He had to move quickly.

Reassured that Bill was properly unconscious, Ford moved to the binds that kept Bill tied to the chair. It was a risk to free Bill completely, but his plan wouldn’t work if the body was still bound by the unicorn spell.

He pressed the blade against one rope and inhaled slowly, before bringing it upwards in a clean cut—

—and quickly backed up as the tiny body slacked to the floor in a crumpled heap.

His grip on the knife tightened as he stepped back out of the circle, as if he still expected Bill to drop his facade and finally take advantage of his chance at freedom. But when the fairy dust continued to prove effective, he returned to Bill's side to cut his wrist binds.

Once Bill was completely unbound from all angles, Ford looked to the puppet he had tossed at his feet. Sure, it had been a five-minute effort but Bill was far from picky when it came to his vessels of choice. And if he suddenly decided to start being picky once he’d reawakened—

—well, too bad, Cipher.

His gaze moved back to the unconscious body again, eyes landing on his face. Naturally he’d written down the research he’d gathered, and he hadn’t been lying to Bill when he said it was to figure out the proper dosage of fairy dust to knock him unconscious. The stuff was powerful enough to put a full-grown unicorn to sleep; too much on a body Bill’s size could potentially have disastrous effects.

And even if Ford’s attempt to contact the body’s original owner had failed, his main concerns still lingered—he still had no way of knowing how harming the physical body would affect Bill himself.

That being said, his quick and simple research had provided Ford with a few interesting discoveries.

As he’d initially hypothesized, every studied part of Bill’s vessel really did scream teenager. A lack of wisdom teeth pinpointed the body as younger than twenty, and his quick count of almost-thirty teeth settled his guess between the ages of about thirteen and fifteen. 

General appearance seemed to back up that fact; limbs were gangly and awkward—even moreso than what would normally be expected from Bill in a human body—those yellow, catlike eyes sat large on his face, larger than they would on the face of an adult—

It was so odd. Of all the vessels to possess, why would Bill choose that of a human teenager? It certainly added credence to the theory that he hadn’t possessed a choice in the matter, but it also added credence to the theory that he had specifically sought out such a body as a way to purposefully mess with Ford and the rest of his family.

Once again, more theories without a clear answer.

With a huff, Ford set the knife near his boot that was furthest away from Bill—putting down his weapon was another risk, but at least he’d had the advantage if he needed to grab it in a hurry—and reached into his pocket again. 

This time his efforts rewarded him with a worn scrap of paper, one he unfolded with both hands and set to the ground in front of him. He might’ve tossed the journals down into the Bottomless Pit, but a proper scientist always had backup options when it came to his research.

…Granted, the backup in question was an old spell he had hidden away during one of those sleep-deprived days between Bill’s betrayal and the portal incident, but it would still prove effective nonetheless. 

Thank goodness he had possessed enough foresight to keep it out of the journals and tucked safely between the edge of his desk and the wall, somewhere Bill had clearly not thought to look during the brief periods when his body had succumbed to sleep.

His gaze narrowed with determination at the body again. Omniscient abilities or not, even Bill Cipher possessed blindspots. A piece of paper tucked between the wall and desk. A lack of knowledge on how to collapse the weirdness barrier that surrounded the town.

An extra finger on a hand where it shouldn’t be, or vice versa.

Shaking his head, Ford turned back to the paper. A wiser man might’ve tried to actually use the spell back when he originally discovered it. But a number of variables—no additional person to read the spell while Bill was in his body, no knowledge on whether or not it would actually work as intended, a general lack of sleep across those several days—had prevented Ford from attempting such a method at the time. 

And once he’d properly returned home after the portal incident, the metal place in his head had already been installed—rendering such a spell mostly pointless.

Until now.

After scribbling down a few additions, he cleared his throat and began to recite aloud: “Aufero, delego. Amoveo, inflecto—”

He paused, looking to the puppet and body for a moment before continuing with a bit more confidence: “Aufero, delego. Amoveo, inflecto…Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum—”

— — — — — — —

Whenever Bill lounged around in the space between the Nightmare Realm and the mortal world, there was always a clear lack of color. 

Whether he was situated inside a dark room, outside over a summoning circle or inside the bedroom closet of an easily-frightened child—always watching, but never seen—the scenery of the mindscape was always draped in a monochromatic curtain of black and white.

Here, however—the warm browns of the study had only dulled the slightest amount while still maintaining their general color. Heck, Bill might not have even noticed the difference at first, had it not been for Ford.

Rather than be subjected to more violence at the man’s hand, it was as if time had completely frozen for him. The arm that had tossed the fairy dust into Bill’s face was still outstretched, but remained still and unmoving in the air.

Bill’s mouth curled into a smirk, and he made no effort to resist the urge to stick his tongue out at him. “Hehe, what’s wrong, Fordsy~?” he asked, leaning forward. “Can’t access the mindsca—ACK!”

He leaned forward too far and hit the hard ground with a thud and an irritable yelp, face once again squished against the floor. Unlike the other times he’d fallen throughout the past day, however—his body felt noticeably lighter and chair-free.

Grin widening further, he pulled himself off the ground until he was standing up proper. Once on his feet, he took a step to grow more accustomed to using legs again. One step, then two more—before he simply launched his body up into the air to hover in place.

Oh, how he loved the Mindscape to pieces~! Possessing people was fun and all, but it came with the unfortunate side effect of not being able to use his powers.

Not in the Mindscape, though~! Here he could do just about anything he wanted!

Speaking of which—

He cast another look in the inanimate Ford’s direction, while a wicked grin spread across his face. Sure, any harm caused to his body in the mindscape wouldn’t carry over to the real world. 

But at the same time, fireball or two to the chin would probably get rid of that stupid beard for a few glorious minutes, right? Perhaps a fireball full of spiders? 

Why not? The past twelve hours had been so frustrating dull for Bill, and he deserved a nice little treat for himself.

He raised his hand into the air with a giddy little laugh, as he waited for the familiar blue flames to blossom from his palm—

—hey, wait.

Bill snapped his attention to what should’ve been a pitch-black hand engulfed in flames. And while the flames had indeed begun to spread out from his palm and up towards his fingertips, the hand itself was still clearly one made of flesh and blood. Just as flesh and blood as the legs he had wobbled on mere seconds ago as he took a few steps. 

Legs that his gaze quickly fell to, realization beginning to take hold of him as his concerns were reaffirmed; black, panted legs attached to a body that was clearly still humanoid.

His hands instinctively moved to touch the opposite arms—as if touching them would somehow transform them back into the twig-thin limbs he was used to having—and then to his chest and stomach—as if touching them would somehow transform him back into his familiar, triangle shape.

When neither attempt bore any results, he blinked a few times in sheer confusion. Okay, so something was clearly wrong. Jumping out of a body into the mindscape should’ve at least reverted his soul back to its usual shape and form. So why was he still stuck in a useless flesh-suit?

He moved his gaze around the study before his attention fell back on Project Mentem, eyes once again locking with one of the unbroken screens. He hadn’t gotten a proper glimpse at his vessel’s face the first time around, but if he was currently situated in the mindscape and able to move freely—

Just before he could make out the shape of his face in the monitor’s reflection, however, the dull colors around it began to distort and—

—well, there was no better term for it than ‘melt’.

Every color in the room—from the warm browns of the nearby shelves and desk, to the dull grays of Ford’s entire being—started to melt towards the floor, leaving behind the usual, monochromatic palette of the Mindscape.

And once all the colors reached the floor, they slowly converged into a muddy blob in the very center of the room. Converge, then shift into a single tint of orange.

Or if Bill wanted to get specific with it—tangerine.

Oh. 

Great.

Sure enough, the blob of tangerine began to twist and morph into a clear silhouette of the shelduck, a loud, giddy laugh echoing through the study even before their beak had fully taken form. “Wow, it looks like someone’s had a busy first day, huh?” they said, placing their hands on their hips once both appeared. “Not even back in town for a full twenty-four hours and they’ve already brought you down to the study for research.”

Bill’s eyebrows furrowed in their direction. Oh, contract or not, he was going to pluck every single one of their feathers out with the Multiverse’s rustiest pair of tweezers once this was all over!

For the time being, he simply folded his arms across his chest with an unimpressed huff. “Yeesh, took you long enough to get your butt down here, Birdbrain!” he said irritably. “Do you know what kinda day I’ve ha—oh, actually, you just said you did, didn’t you?”

He tossed his hands in the air. “Well, if you could see what kinda day I was having, why haven’t you stepped in yet? Thought you were all about helping people in need or whatever?”

He made a casual gesture in Ford’s direction. “Well, I’ve sure needed some help getting away from him!”

Tangy held up their own hands with a guilty smile. “Okay, okay, I realize you have some concerns,” they said. “I don’t blame you, you’ve been through a lot in a short amount of time.”

One hand went to their forehead. “And admittedly, I’m mostly here because I realized I forgot to tell you a few things!”

“Oh, gee, you think?” Bill said, moving the gesture towards himself. “How about you start with explaining why you kept the fact that you’d be sticking me in a vessel like this a secret? Or why I’m still a pile of meat, bones and nerves in the mindscape instead of my usual form?”

“You—wait…”

They lowered their hand to give him a perplexed tilt of their head. “You mean you haven’t figured out what’s happening yet?”

“I mean, I figured out that you think you’re clever,” Bill said with a roll of his eyes. “Sticking me in a vessel this small for your dumb game, all without telling me ahead of time? That’s real cute, Birdbrain.”

A shrug, one accompanied by a smirk. “Hehe, what, did my short jokes bother you that bad?”

“No, they didn’t, but—”

“Aufero, delego. Amoveo, inflecto—”

The sound of Ford’s voice echoing through the mindscape turned both their attention to the ceiling, the imaginary mindscape shaking and rattling around them as he continued: “Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum!”

Bill’s brow furrowed at the sound, attention moving back to the still-inanimate Ford. So that was Sixer’s big plan, huh? To try his hand at a transfer spell while the vessel was unconscious?

That sneaky jerk, always trying to go behind his back—

“Oh, so, he’s trying that, huh?”

And back his attention and furrowed brow went to Tangy. Speaking of jerks, the feathered jerk needed to stop stealing his lines and get to their jerk point already! “You said you had something to tell me,” he said, hovering closer to them. “So hurry up and spill the beans before Sixer succeeds in doing whatever he’s doing out there!”

“Aufero, delego. Amoveo, inflecto—”

“Quickly, Birdbrain, we don’t have all day!”

Tangy looked to the ceiling again. “Yeah, I dunno if I’ll actually have the time to cover everything at this rate,” they said, and held up a finger. “But he won’t succeed in getting you outta that body, if that’s what you’re worried about!”

“Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum!��

Between the chanting from Ford and the crypticness from Tangy, Bill could physically feel his face reddening with anger. “Birdbrain, if you don’t explain right now—”

“Sorry, don’t have time!” they said quickly. “But I promise that this won’t be the last time we chat, and I can cover everything else the next time we do! Plus there’s always the thing on your wrist—”

“Wait, the what—”

There was a flash of light before all the color that had congregated to make Tangy’s form sank back into the floor and slowly started returning to the rest of the room.

And as the last little bits of brown and grays situated themselves back into place, Bill’s hovering body hit the floor again with a hard thud.

His eyes snapped closed on impact, then snapped open again with a shout.

— — — — — — —

“—aufero, delego. Amoveo, inflecto…Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum, Expuli Triangulum!”

With a final recital of the spell, Ford leaned back with another shuddery exhale of relief. Whether his attempt to shift Bill from one vessel to the other proved successful or not, the spell still required a few minutes of waiting for the end result.

While he waited, he let his gaze move once again to the unconscious teenager’s forehead. It had given him pause upon observation; not for any research purposes, but for the birthmark that waited beneath that mop of blonde hair—

“AAH!”

Ford jumped at the sound of a yell echoing through his study, the surprise of Bill suddenly moving again causing him to stumble backwards and trip over—and sever—the rope circle he had created on the floor.

Leaving a few inches of empty space between the ends of the rope.

Bill’s eyes were wide as dinner plates as he snapped back to consciousness, his screams of surprise petering out into sharp inhales of breath while he jerked up into a sitting position.

And with a final, shuddery exhale to ground himself—Yeesh, this body was weird. Who was in charge of designing a pile of flesh who needed oxygen, but not too much oxygen at once, to live?—his gaze locked to a still-floored Ford.

He stared, Ford stared back.

His functional pupil flitted down to the severed circle—

“Cipher, don’t you DARE!”

And Bill took off like a flash in the direction of the emergency exit staircase.

Ford was after him in seconds—rope and knife in hand—and the heavy thud of his boots against the medal stairs rung throughout the study over Bill’s maniacal cackling as he hurried for the cellar door.

Perhaps leaving fairy dust in a bag for over thirty years hadn’t been the best idea after all.

— — — — — — —

“Okay, so party preparations for today…” 

Melody tapped her clipboard with the end of her pen, before turning to Mabel at her left. “We’ve got Mabel on the streamers—”

Mabel held up the rolls in her hands with a look of pride. “By the time I’m done, you’ll be fishing them out of the gutters for years!”

“Please don’t actually give me that much more work to do,” Wendy said from her right.

“...You’ll be fishing them out of the gutters for years in theory,” Mabel corrected herself. “In actuality, I’ll be cleaning them up myself so Wendy doesn’t have to!”

While Wendy gave her a thumbs up, Melody looked to her list again. “And we’ve got Dipper on balloon duty—”

Dipper shifted the countless packs of balloons in his embrace to one arm so he could give her a salute. “There won’t be a single bare table, chair, or loose area where a balloon can easily be tied to when I’m done with this place!”

“Just be careful not to tie too many to the shack itself,” Soos chimed in. “Otherwise they could, like, carry it up and away in the air!”

He made a series of floating motions with his hand. “You know like…WOOSH! Just floating all the way up into the sky!”

“Soos, you realize that’s probably impossible, right?” Dipper pointed out. “Do you know how many balloons we’d need to be able to rip through the foundation alone? They’d lose their helium way faster than I could inflate the necessary amount—”

“Poke!”

“Hey!”

While Dipper slapped his now-freed hand to his cheek where Mabel had poked him, she waved her arms around in a playful fashion. “Ooh, look at me, I’m Dipper~!” she teased. “I’ve seen gnomes, giant Manotaurs and dream demons, but balloons lifting up a house is impossible~!”

She leaned over to poke her again, and he nudged her back in amused retaliation. “Hey, come on, those things are actually real,” he pointed out with a chuckle. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t believe in a floating balloon house if it was right in front of me, but you know…it’s gotta prove itself possible first.”

“Balloons and the possibility of discovering something new,” Melody said, pressing a finger to her clipboard. “Check! Alright, what’s next?”

“I think we’ll wanna get the tables set up as soon as possible,” Soos chimed in. “I know we’ve still got hours until the party, but we’ve still gotta get all the food ready, right?”

He made a walking motion with his hand. “And who wants to make a buncha food, then carry a buncha tables outside—and then have to go back and carry out that same buncha food from before all in one go?” A shrug. “Just saying, babe, it’d be smart to get the tables out first, then focus on covering them with the food!”

“Makes perfect sense to me,” Melody said, tucking her clipboard under her arm. “I’ll help you get the first one out here if you want.”

She flashed the others a smile. “Wendy, do you want to help us with tables or stay out here and decorate with the twins?”

“Hey, I’ll take tossing up balloons and streamers over having to carry whole tables back and forth,” Wendy said.

Dipper looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. “...Don’t you have a shrink ray—oh, you’re not mentioning it just so you don’t get stuck carrying tables, aren’t you?”

“Sure am.”

“Have fun, dudes!" Soos called to them, as the two of them made their way to the porch. "Make this place look like a party threw up from spending too much time at another party!”

“You got it, Soos!” Mabel said with a salute. “Like I said earlier: by the time I’m done with this place, you’ll be fishing old streamers out of the gutters for years!”

A pause, before she added as an afterthought: “...Again, I mean that metaphorically, and not in the way that will give Wendy more work!”

With a laugh, Wendy gave her a light nudge as the adults disappeared inside the house. Once they were out of sight, she turned her attention towards the yard before them. “Alright, so what side should we get to decorating first?”

BANG!

A loud clattering of the nearby cellar doors caused everyone to jump in surprise, right before Bill came barrelling out of the darkness with a shrill laugh—

“GET BACK HERE!”

—while the sound of Ford’s voice thundered after him from the cellar.

Bill skidded to a stop in the dirt, taking a brief second to catch his breath until he looked over to where the kids stood.

They stared, he stared back—

“Quick, somebody grab him!” Ford’s voice yelled from the cellar, seconds before he himself appeared in the doorway.

—and Bill spun on his heels before sprinting towards the nearby wood.

Despite their initial shock, Wendy was quick to the draw with the shrink ray. Rather than shoot a beam at Bill, however, she aimed it towards something in the line of his path—a small rock that suddenly quintupled in size in a matter of seconds.

So few seconds that Bill didn’t have enough time to slow to a halt before his face and body slammed against the rock, the impact knocking him off his already-wobbly feet and bringing him down to the dirt with a thud.

His escape attempt was momentarily forgotten as he pressed a hand to his injured nose, before casting a bitter glare in Wendy’s direction. “Oh, that’s real mature, Red!” he called. “I suppose your next trick involves painting a tunnel on the side?”

“Haha!” Mabel said delightedly. “Nice one, Wendy!”

“Yeah, I’m really liking this thing,” Wendy said, with a small twirl of the flashlight.

“Did you hear me?!” Ford said sharply—probably sharper than intended—as he stepped out into the yard. “Someone catch him before he gets to the woods!”

“Oh, right—”

As Bill sprung back to his feet and took off in another direction, the rest of the group rushed after him in a frantic hurry. And despite the burning sensation in Bill’s lungs, he was cackling with wicked delight at the others’ misfortune as he rounded the side of the shack near the porch—

“Gotcha!”

—right before a large hand snagged the back of his jacket and yanked him backwards.

Despite Bill’s desperate attempts to struggle free, Stan’s grip remained strong as he hoisted him up in the air. “Nice try, pal.”

If Bill could feel his face reddening in anger within the Mindscape, the sensation was tenfold in the real world as he glared daggers at Stan. “Put me down!”

“Not happening, Pyramid Face.”

Ford came into view around the corner, a heavy sigh of relief escaping his chest as he drew closer. “Nice catch, Stanley…”

“Maybe to you, it is!” Bill protested, with a pointed glare at Stan. “Thought you were busy pouting on the boat, or whatever.”

“And I thought you were busy dyin’, or whatever,” Stan shot back, before looking back to Ford again. “Need to tie him up, or—”

“Right, right,” Ford said, unfurling the rope he’d snagged from the study. “Hold him out?”

While Stan extended him out to Ford—the sight of Bill’s body dangling as he struggled to break free reminiscent of a scruffed kitten—the kids also rounded the side of the house in a rush. At the sight of Stan holding Bill, they too slowed to a stop with looks of both relief and mild confusion. 

Confusion that Mabel finally vocalized with a: “What’s going on?”

“Aside from the obvious escape attempt on Bill’s end?” Dipper asked.

Despite his struggles, Bill couldn’t help but let out a mocking laugh at Dipper's remark. “Aww, look who has eyes and a brain that can string together two coherent thoughts. You’re really movin’ up in the world, aren’tcha, Pine Tree—hey, hey! I felt that, Stanford!”

He shot a sour look at Ford, who had already started the process of rewrapping the rope around his body to restrain him. Restraint with clear intent on Ford’s end to be as uncomfortable for Bill as possible.

And at Bill’s confrontation, Ford locked eyes with him and pulled the ends even tighter with an insincere: “Oops.”

While he moved to loop them again—and while Bill continued to try and struggle free—Stan raised an eyebrow. “Gonna guess whatever you were tryin’ down there didn’t work?”

“Oh, no, it worked perfectly~!” Bill replied in Ford’s place. “Clearly I’m now stuck in one of Sixer’s badly-made arts and crafts and—actually, I don’t exactly know what he planned on doing with me after that, so I can’t spin some dramatic yarn about it, but the point is that it obviously worked~!”

He gave Stan a cutesy bat of his eyelashes, which quickly fell into a flat look. “Asking questions like that is why you’re the dumber, sweatier twin. You realize this, right?”

Despite Stan’s fists tightening around Bill’s jacket in one hand and the stack of papers in the other, he kept his reply limited to an enraged stare that could’ve burned through a sheet of metal. From the side where the rest of the group stood, however, Mabel’s features lit up with intrigue as she took a cautious step closer. “Did he say arts and crafts project?”

“Pay him no mind, Mabel,” Ford instructed, as he fiddled with the rope further. “As I told you earlier, nothing he says is worth taking into account.”

Despite another tight yank of the ropes against his chest, Bill managed a disapproving tut. “Wooooow, Sixer, and here I was being open and honest to them about our exciting adventures down in the study,” he scolded. “I realize that the concept of honestly and openness is completely foreign to you, but there’s no time like the present to learn—ACK!”

Ford’s next rope tug forced a strangled gasp out of Bill’s chest that even he couldn’t mask with a snarky comment, and one that earned an uncomfortable wince from Dipper. “Grunkle Ford, I know he’s being a massive jerk and would probably deserve it, but you might suffocate him if you’re not careful.”

“Also what were you doing down in the study, Doc?” Wendy added, taking a step forward as well. “If you tell us, then he doesn’t have to, right?”

Despite his discomfort, Bill flashed her a small grin. “Doc? Hey, that’s not a bad one! Might add that one to the ol’ mental rolodex~!”

He tilted his head in Ford’s direction. “And she’s got a point, Fordsy! I mean, you can’t exactly get mad at me for spilling the beans when you aren’t willing to go and do it yourself, right!” he pointed out with a cackle. “Once again, we know you’re not exactly the expert at being honest with people, but I repeat my previous sentiments of ‘no time like the present to learn’!” 

He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Or I guess it’s the best time for you mortals to learn, since you’re lacking one of those nifty little time dispensers or any sort of ultimate power like yours truly. But you get the idea!”

With a slow, shuddery exhale, Ford slackened his grip on the rope and reached around to loosen his previous loops. “Fine, Wendy—” he said, with strong emphasis on her name. “I suppose filling everyone in on the details wouldn’t cause any harm now.”

“Subtle,” Bill remarked, with an attempt—a failed attempt—to pull his arms free once the ropes were looser. “Also I bet you wish you hadn’t cut the rope around my hands now, huh?”

“As I informed Dipper and Stan earlier,” Ford continued. “I was attempting to move Bill’s soul from one vessel to another. I used fairy dust to knock him out in a second unicorn barrier and tossed a sock puppet into the circle, before I cut the binds that held him to the chair and attempted a transfer spell that would—well, as I said before, move him from one vessel to the other.”

“Fairy dust?” Mabel repeated, perking up further. “Sock puppets?”

“Magical, ain’t it, Shooting Star?” Bill asked. “But as I pointed out before, I’m still stuck in this body and not some badly-made puppet that Sixer put together in five minutes. So it was all for nothing~!”

His smile faltered as he glared back at Ford. “By the way, a transfer spell? That was your big, secret plan?” he asked with a scoff. “It’s so juvenile, I’m almost offended at your laziness. Props to you for finding one in the first place, though—didn’t realize you had one on hand! Too bad it didn’t work!”

“Woooow, and here I thought you were completely serious when you said it worked earlier,” Stan said, tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Of course you would, Goldfish,” Bill shot back with a smug grin. “Like I said; dumber and sweatier~! Not just pretty words tossed at you by your childhood bullies!”

Stan’s shoulders tensed further as Ford finally tied the rope off with a sturdy knot. “That should do it,” he said, then made a beckoning motion with his hand. “Alright, you can pass him over to me now.”

Stan stared at the hand, then down at Bill—earning another one of those toothy smiles of his; having a mouth really was a detriment to everyone but himself—before turning his gaze fully back to Ford.

Ford’s gaze was locked on him in return, any words he would’ve preferred to say silenced by the presence of Bill. Not just his presence but that of the kids, of Wendy—perhaps even by the presence of Stanley himself. An apology for earlier events lingering at the back of his throat, desperate to push itself out into the open, desperate to reach Stanley’s ears—

An apology almost identical to the one that Stan couldn’t bring himself to vocalize, the sheer vulnerability of such an action forcing him to avert his eyes from Ford to the kids, to Wendy, and finally to—

“No, no, don’t mind me,” Bill piped up. “If you two feel like fighting again, be my guests! And this time, you don’t even have a hallway to go out and fight in, so I get a front-row seat, baby~!”

Stan glowered at him before finally passing him off to Ford with a huff, one that allowed him a chance to push of that vulnerability back again. 

Most of it, at least. “So, uh—that plan of yours,” he began slowly. “It really didn’t work, then?—don’t you say a word, Cipher!”

He directed that last part at Bill, who simply grinned in response as Ford shook his head. “No, unfortunately it didn’t work. As Bill is so keen on reminding us, his soul remained inside his current vessel even after the transfer attempt.”

He held up a finger. “However, that doesn’t mean I’m out of ideas. If anything, I did learn a few interesting things that might allow me to try a method I initially rejected.”

“Oh, because of the whole—” Dipper began, before his gaze shifted to Bill again. “You know, the stuff we talked about earlier—”

“Precisely,” Ford replied before Bill could get a word in. “While my initial theory wasn’t proven wrong by the failed attempt, it did prove that—”

He paused and returned his attention to Bill for a moment, who gave another cutesy bat of his eyelashes. “Well, Sixer, we’re waiting~?”

“Oh, for the love of—” Wendy started, then continued forward until she’d joined the adults proper. “Turn him towards me for a sec.”

With a confused look from all of them—Bill included—Ford obliged and held Bill out further in front of him. Once she was at a safe angle, Wendy leaned over and slapped a hand over each of his ears, earning a very irritable “Oh, COME ON—” from him for her efforts. “Would’ve covered his mouth too, but I’m not looking for another rabies shot,” Wendy explained. “Plus he seems like the kinda guy who’s going to yell and whine about me doing this, and it’ll muffle anything you have to say.”

“I’ll bet you mortals think you’re SO advanced for possessing external ear lobes!” Bill yelled, whipping his head back and forth. “Well, the joke’s on you! If I were in my usual form, I wouldn’t possess such a horrible evolutionary flaw! In fact, I’ll probably just get rid of ears altogether once I’m outta this stupid body—”

“Wow, smart call,” Dipper said.

Despite Bill’s best efforts to shake her off, Wendy’s hands remained firm against his head as she raised an eyebrow at Ford. “Alright, you wanted to say something?”

Ford blinked a few times in surprise, but cleared his throat with his free hand before responding: “As I was saying and as I told Stan and Dipper this morning, I was originally hesitant to cause any lethal harm to Bill’s current vessel, due to—well—”

“The fact that he looks like Dipper?” Mabel asked.

“Oh, so you guys saw that too,” Wendy asked with a grimace.

“We’ve seen it, acknowledged it—” Dipper added quickly. “But the main issue outside of that was that Grunkle Ford didn’t know if killing Bill’s vessel would actually kill Bill himself, since he’s a mind demon and stuff.”

“I had those concerns,” Ford continued. “But the failed transfer attempt proved a few things to me that I did not know at the time of those assumptions. I don’t have a lot of time to get into everything right now since, well—”

He gestured to the still-deafened Bill, who shot him a dirty look. “I know you’re talking about me! You think I don’t know your ‘showing off something as you talk about it’ gesture?”

“My point is—while the transfer failed, it taught me one important thing,” Ford said, while Bill droned on in anger. “While it’d still be dangerous to outright try killing Bill, he is unable to be pulled out of his current vessel.”

“...Meaning—?” Stan asked.

“Meaning that if he’s unable to be forcibly pulled out of his current vessel, there’s a high chance he also cannot leave of his own accord,” Ford explained. “Meaning he’s stuck. And if he’s stuck, there’s at least one specific thing we can try to get him out of our hair for the time being.”

“What is it?” Mabel asked.

“I’m going to take him down to the bunker and place him in one of the cryogenic chambers.”

“You’re gonna freeze him?” Wendy asked, then paused. “Woah, woah, time out—you had the idea to freeze him this whole time and you spent this long not doing that?”

“Well, to be fair, the process has only ever been used on the supernatural,” Ford explained. “I have no idea what kind of effect it’ll have on a human body, and the last thing I wanted to do is actually cause harm beyond repair to Bill’s vessel, for previously-explained reasons. But since my attempts to either contact the previous host or expunge him from the vessel were failures, it seems like a safe enough method to try next.”

“Hello?! Did we forget I was here?!”

Bill continued to shake his head about in an attempt to free his ears from Wendy’s hands, and Ford gave a nod to her to pull them back. “Anyway, what I told you is the current plan,” he said, while she obliged. “It shouldn’t take me too long to complete, and I should be back within an hour or so.”

“What, you’re going to the—” Dipper’s gaze bounced over to Bill for a split second “—the place we just talked about by yourself?”

“Oh, great recovery, Pine Tree,” Bill said. “By the way, it’s cute how you think that someone who’s been around the block as much as me doesn’t know how to read lips.”

He flashed the group a wide grin. “So if you guys wanna prattle on about how Sixer’s going to take me down to the bunker to pop me into one of those freezy-tubes like I were a pack of Mustelid Sticks, then by all means~!”

At the sight of their eyebrows shooting up their foreheads in surprise, Bill cackled in delight. “Wait, did I seriously get it right the first time?”

And as they attempted to settle their features back into more neutral expressions, he let out another elated cackle that rocked his entire body. “Haha, wow, I can’t believe that bluff actually worked!” he taunted. “I mean, it was my third guess, after ‘ultra-powerful vacuum’ and ‘fishing around inside my vessel’s ear with the soul-equivalent of those garbage-grabbing hooks’, but man, you guys gotta get better poker faces!”

“Yeah, well, so what if you’re right?” Mabel added, folding her arms across her chest. “What’re you gonna do about it to stop us from locking you up?”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something~!” Bill said with a grin. “The universe does seem to have me in its favor when it comes to last-minute rescues~!”

He waggled his eyebrows at the group. “Do you get it? Because you jerks tried to kill me and I—hey!”

His smug look melted into annoyance as Ford gave his body a warning shake. “Don’t you worry about him, kids,” Ford said to the others. “No matter what he says, it’ll only be a matter of time before he’s out of our hair for good.”

“Going back to what Mabel was saying, though,” Stan said. “You’re really gonna handle this all by yourself?”

“Yeah, don’t you need someone to, like, push the buttons in the security room?” Wendy asked, then added as an afterthought: “I figure since he guessed the plan, we can talk about it freely now.”

“Hey, yeah!” Dipper agreed. “There’s no way you’ll be able to do the code all by yourself, especially not with Bill in your hands!”

“Once again, very hurtful that people are talking about me like I’m not even here,” Bill said with feigned offense. “But the peanut gallery raise a good point. Pretty sure that unless you’ve gained the ability to grow another pair of arms—not that you’d tell me if you did, I guess—you’ll be squished flatter than—well, me~!”

A pause, before he flashed Ford a grin. “And while imitation’s the sincerest form of flattery and I highly suggest you try it, I’d rather not be involved in said imitation attempt myself. You know what I mean?”

Rather than respond, Ford pressed his free hand to his chin. “I suppose the security room does provide me with an issue I hadn’t previously considered…”

Stan’s features lit up with a spark of inspiration, and his grip once again tightened around the stack of papers in his hand. “Hey, you know, if the cat’s outta the bag on that bunker plan,” he said, and began to flip through them with one hand. “I might have somethin’ that—”

“No, Stanley.”

It was said too quickly, far too quickly for either of their liking. And Stan’s thumbing through the papers was halted with a deflated look, one that earned a remorseful expression from Ford in return. “I—I appreciate you catching Bill for me, but I can handle this myself,” he said quickly, regaining his composure. “I’ll…simply deactivate the security room before I bring Bill through. It might add some extra time to my bunker venture, but it would make for an easy and safe transfer to the main lab area.”

“But I—”

“Yeah, so why don’t you do what I told you to do earlier, Goldfish,” Bill chimed in. “And run along and let the adults handle things here?”

Red once again flooded Stan’s vision, the stack of papers dropped to the ground beside him as he bared both fists in a surge of anger. “Oh, you wanna see how an adult handles things, you little—”

He grit his teeth together as his vision shifted between Ford and the kids, before he exhaled as much anger as he could possibly expel in one breath and scooped the papers back up off the ground with a halfhearted “Forget it.” before storming off towards the Stan-O-War-II.

Ford opened his mouth the slightest amount to object, to call him back, to say something—

“Yeesh, the temper on that guy,” Bill spoke up with a laugh. “No wonder you avoided him for so long, I’d go nuts having to deal with that all the time!”

—and his grip tightened on Bill before he turned to the nearby wood. “As I said before, it shouldn’t take me more than a few hours at most to disable the security system,” he called back to the kids. “Once it’s done, Bill will be out of our hair for the time being.”

“If it works,” Bill added with a laugh. “I mean, your silly little transfer spell didn’t work, so who’s to say—hey, hey, quit shaking me!”

Bill narrowed his eyes at Ford, who returned it with another shake of his body as he stepped from the yard into the forest underbrush—

“Grunkle Ford, wait!”

—and spun back around at the sound of Mabel’s voice, dirt crunching beneath her shoes as she hurried towards him. “I know Soos asked you earlier and you didn’t respond,” she said. “But…do you think you’ll be done with the security room in time for the party?”

“Yeesh, Shooting Star,” Bill piped up. “You’re all in the presence of greatness here, and all you can think about is some silly party?”

A laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you focusing on yourselves over anything else. You Pineses don’t do enough of that anymore. But c’mon, I’m dyin’ over here!”

He flashed Ford a grin, one far more teeth than actual amusement. “Although I guess that’s the goal here, isn’t it, Sixer?”

“I…don’t have an answer to that question, Mabel,” Ford replied to Mabel. “While I have confidence in my own skill to deactivate the security room without issue, there’s always a chance that things could go astray in the process. If all goes according to plan, I should at least make it back for the tail end of things. If it doesn’t—”

“If it doesn’t, too bad!” Bill interrupted gleefully. “No party for Sixer~!”

This time, Ford didn’t even bother to acknowledge him as he turned and continued onwards into the woods. Mabel didn’t budge from her spot, keeping her eyes locked on Ford's back until both of them disappeared from sight between the trees.

“Well, I still don’t know if him and Stan actually fighting or not,” Wendy chimed up from behind her. “But either way, that could’ve gone way better.”

“No kidding,” Dipper added. “And I know this goes without saying, but Bill wasn’t exactly making things any easier.”

“You’d think dying would’ve taught him how to shut up a little bit,” Wendy agreed with a huff. “Bet you anything Stan was a second away from swinging on him again.”

“A bet I’d never take because you’d win it easy.”

Mabel kept her attention on the woods for a few more seconds, her entire posture sinking as she finally turned back to face them. “And now Grunkle Ford’s gonna be at the bunker all day, doing secret bunker stuff all by himself,” she said sadly. “He might not even make it back in time for the party tonight…”

She reached over to grab one of her sweater sleeves with one hand. “Guess that’s not the most important thing right now, though, huh? Guess it’s getting rid of Bill first…”

Dipper crossed his arms with a sigh. “He never did tell us how he was going to handle that alone,” he pointed out, with his own unsure look towards the forest. “I mean, I know he said he’s gonna deactivate the security room. But how’s he going to get into the bunker at all?”

“Hey, yeah,” Wendy said thoughtfully. “Wouldn’t he need to climb up and reach the lever? How’s he going to do that when he’s gotta keep a hand on Bill?”

Realization painted both Dipper and Mabel’s features at the same time, and their gazes immediately snapped to each other. “Grunkle Ford isn’t letting Stan help him—” Dipper began.

“—but he didn’t say we couldn’t come help,” Mabel finished knowingly.

“And even if he said he could handle the Bill stuff by himself, he never said anything about getting help with the bunker stuff,” Wendy added with a wink.

“Plus, he’ll probably need at least one other person to watch Bill so he can focus on the security room!” Dipper said thoughtfully, a grin spreading across his face. “I know it’s not technically a loophole dodge, but I mean…how’s he supposed to focus on dismantling a dangerous security system if he’s got to keep one eye on Bill?”

“And keeping that eye on Bill for someone else will probably be super easy if he’s tied up,” Mabel agreed. “I mean, all he can do right now is talk, right? And it’s not like we’re not gonna listen to anything he says!”

“Sounds to me like we’re all in agreement on this ‘go and help that stubborn old doc out’ train,” Wendy said. “So you two gonna get a move on towards the bunker, or what?”

“Oh, should we both go?” Dipper asked, directing the question at her, then Mabel. “I think one of us would be more than enough, right?”

“One should be good,” Mabel said with a nod. “And we can always keep in touch with our cell phones, right?”

“Signal might be hit or miss underground, but it’s not like I can’t just step out and guard the exit as I text,” Dipper agreed.

“Yeah, y—wait, you?” Mabel tilted her head in confusion. “You wanted to go?”

“Oh, was that not—” Dipper began. “Did you want to go instead? I thought you’d want to stay and decorate for the party?”

“Yeah, plus we have no idea if Dr. Pines will actually be finished by the time the party starts,” Wendy added. “Are you sayin’ you’d be willing to miss a party of this size, Mabel?”

“Eh, there’s always gonna be other parties,” Mabel insisted. “Plus, I trust you two to follow Soos’ vision of ‘making this place look like a party threw up from spending too much time at another party.’”

She looked towards the woods again. “Plus, I…I said I wanted to spend some time with Dr. Grunkle Ford, right? What better way to do that then to help him with all this Bill stuff?”

She pressed a hand to her mouth with a giggle. “Oops, I mean…all this bunker stuff.”

“Fair point, fair point,” Dipper agreed with a nod. “Alright, then you go help Ford, and keep me posted on what’s happening! And I’ll snap as many pics as I can of the party for you, just so you don’t feel too left out.”

“You’re the best, Bro-Bro~!” Mabel said, smile widening as she looked between them. “Alright, I’d better get going then, huh?”

“Good luck, Mabel!” Wendy said, and flashed her a thumbs up. “And be sure to drop a couple of swears at the little triangle bastard in my honor.”

“Ooh, yeah!” Mabel said excitedly, then pressed a hand to her chin. “Uh…which ones should I use?”

“Whatever one you want, so long as I don’t get in trouble for it.”

Mabel thought for a second. “Bill’s a…dumbass?”

Wendy slapped a hand to her mouth to try and bite back a laugh. “Good try, but maybe put a little bit more oomph behind it? C’mon, say it with your whole chest!”

“Bill’s a dumbass!” she tried again with more confidence.

“Yeah, atta girl!” Wendy said, pumping a fist into the air. 

Dipper let out a laugh of delight, pressing a hand to his own mouth. “He really is a dumbass, huh?”

“The biggest one!” Mabel said, clapping her hands together. “Dumbass triangle!”

“Alright, alright, let’s spread ‘em out a bit, huh?” Wendy suggested. “Swears are fine and good, but you use too many of them at once and they lose their punch.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” Mabel said with a nod. “Better save them for when I get to the bunker, huh?”

With a laugh, Wendy gave her a two-finger salute, one accompanied by a thumbs up from Dipper. And after a confusing attempt to mirror both at the same time, Mabel bounded off through the underbrush in the direction where Ford had gone.

The two of them watched her go in silence, before Wendy looked down to Dipper. “So, you wanna get started on those streamers while we toss out a couple more swears about the little jerk?”

“Like you’ve gotta ask,” Dipper said, before they turned back towards the Shack. “I know for a fact I’ve got a couple of those hearty f-words saved up just for him.”

[kaspencer]

No pogue on pogue macking, remember?”

JJ rolled his eyes, letting his head fall back into the grass. “We don’t have to tell them.”

She rolled onto her side, eyeing the way JJ held the blunt between his fingers - the way he brought it to his lips and took a deep hit. With the light from the dwindling bonfire reflecting off of him, he was especially pretty. She considered him for a moment.

Sure, she had always thought of JJ as attractive, especially after the growth spurt two years ago, and his most recent haircut. But she’d never really thought of him like that.

Who was she kidding? Of course she had.

Looking back on it, she supposed her attraction had truly started about six months ago after Aaron Bowman took her virginity and the world of sex really opened her eyes to her own wants and needs.

She remembered the exact moment when she came back from Aaron’s house after he tried and failed to pick her up during sex. JJ had been helping John B fix the boat, and she was watching them with a beer in hand, her side too bruised from landing on Aaron’s bedside table to help. JJ picked up a heavy piece of equipment with relative ease, and she was bombarded with the image of him picking her up, like Aaron had been unable to do.

She’d been newly sixteen and incredibly horny after her boyfriend had continuously failed to give her an orgasm. Seeing JJ’s muscles tense and shift sent her mind reeling. She felt so hot she jumped into the water so nobody would notice her flushed cheeks.

She broke up withAaron not long after that, and she went back to pretending she wasn’t attracted to one of her best friends.

But now, here JJ was, offering to get her off.

How did they even get here? The night was going perfectly normally - She managed to get her hands on a few cartons of beer, so she and her friends had gathered at the Chateau to drink themselves silly. She had been enjoying herself; she beat Pope at snap, got a front row seat to John B falling out of a tree, and lost a chugging match to Kie.

But John B was now curled up on the porch snoring like a pig, and Pope had driven himself and Kie home, not willing to stay too late on a school night. It was just her and JJ, lying together on a picnic blanket by the dwindling fire.

They were sharing a joint, giggling about nothing and everything, too comfortable to move inside. Then JJ asked her why she’d broken up with her last boyfriend, Marcus Harris.

Drunk and high out of her mind, she giggled and actually told him the truth. She hadn’t even told Kie the truth, and she told Kie everything.

“He couldn’t get me off,” She admitted, staring up at the moon through the branches above them. “I told him I was sick of having sex with a guy who only lasts thirty seconds.”

JJ laughed aloud. “Did he not get you off once? You were together for a while.”

“Nope,” she shook her head, laughing with him. “None of my boyfriends have ever made me orgasm. I gotta rely on my trusty li’l fingers.”

She wiggled her fingers in his face jokingly, and JJ swatted at her hand. She stole the joint and took a drag for herself.

Suddenly, JJ jerked upright, startling her. “Y’know, I bet I could get you off.”

She blinked up at him before she burst into laughter. ”Fuck off,” she shoved him, laughing as he rolled comically.

But then JJ rolled back, and his eyes were… different. “Seriously.” He watched as she took another hit of the blunt. Her skin erupted into goosebumps at his gaze. “You’re hot, I’m hot, let’s have sex.”

And here we are.

“No pogue on pugue macking, remember?” She pointed out.

“We don’t have to tell them.”

She liked to tell herself it was the booze that made her say what she said next. “I bet you couldn’t even make me cum.”

She blamed the alcohol when JJ pushed himself up and hovered above her. His hands were splayed out on either side of her head, his eyes staring down at her with a competitive haze. “Bet.”

She would place the blame on her lowered inhibitions for what happened next. But the truth was, the second JJ’s lips crashed against hers, she sobered up real quick. When he pushed the skirt of her white beach dress up and slid his fingers up her thigh, She was perfectly aware of what was happening. When her panties were pushed aside and JJ’s fingers were sliding over her bud with a sensuality her boyfriends had never possessed, she had never felt so good.

JJ kissed his way down her jaw, stopping at her earlobe and pulling it between his teeth. Her hands were in his hair, her feet tangled with his. Her skin felt alive, burning with desire as he pushed a finger into her. He kissed down her throat, nipping and sucking and licking marks into her skin, lower and lower until he reached that little spot on her collarbone that made her toes curl.

With an open mouth, she panted into the night air as JJ slid a second finger into her. Then his thumb was rubbing over her clit and she couldn’t help the languid moan that escaped her. JJ chuckled against her collarbone, his voice deeper than usual.

It was all so good. Sheforgot about their firneds, who would no doubt scold them if they found out this was happening - she forgot about John B snoring away on the Chateau porch just metres away. There was nothing but her and JJ and his fingers bringing her to an amazing orgasm.

She clutched at his back, her knees coming up as the feeling in the pit of her stomach grew more intense. She whimpered, getting louder with every pump of his fingers inside of her. JJ hummed encouragingly against her.

“Good girl,” he whispered into her ear, and it was his voice, low and sensual, that brought her over the edge.

“Fuck,” She shook in his hold, her release more intense than anything she’d given herself. “Oh my god.”

But JJ just kept rubbing, thrusting his fingers in and out of her. He laughed breathily into her ear as she let out a squeak.

“No, no, JJ,” she couldn’t take it. It was too much. She was so sensitive, so overwhelmed, and she felt so good. Her legs were shaking. “I can’t - that’s enough.”

And he stopped, lifting his head to look her in the eye, a smirk on his swollen lips. “Told you.”

She laughed weakly and shoved him off of her. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

[duskandcobalt]

Everywhere, Everything: Chapter Three

Chapter Summary: In the aftermath of sleeping with Azriel, Elain finds herself a distraction in the form of a new boyfriend. Only, that distraction isn't working out quite as planned.

Word Count: 3.9k

Missed the first two chapters? You can find the masterlist for this fic here 🥰

A/N: Thank you so much for all the love and support on this fic. It means everything to me 💕 Please accept my apologies in advance for this chapter lol but repeat after me - fuck! graysen!

ENJOY XX

Read on AO3

“Your mom hates me.” Elain tipped her head back against the passenger seat headrest and closed her eyes against the bright light of the full moon. Graysen’s foot pressed down on the gas pedal, sending them flying faster down the freeway towards his apartment. She couldn’t bear to look at him. Couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes, the tension in his jaw. She had one job tonight and she’d failed miserably.

“I told you to make sure you cleaned yourself up after work.” Graysen’s voice was low, barely audible over the sound of the road. His gaze stayed fixed straight ahead - as if he couldn’t stand to even glance in her direction. 

Hot tears pricked at the corner of Elain’s eyes, threatening to spill. She didn’t know why she’d bothered to hope that maybe he’d try to reassure her, that he’d say something to make her feel better or to let her know that it didn’t matter to him whether or not his parents approved of his new girlfriend. It shouldn’t have surprised her that all she got was blame even if she had spent an hour in the bathroom after work, carefully pinning her hair into place and making sure her makeup was done just right. 

She didn’t know how she’d failed to notice the smear of dark crimson juice that had dried on the side of her hand or how she’d forgotten to scrub off the smudge of dirt that had somehow made its way onto the side of her neck but Graysen and his mother had both certainly noticed. 

It had been the first two things he had pointed out seconds after Elain slid into his car earlier,  foolishly expecting a compliment on her dress - one of his favourites -  only for her faults to be pointed out instead. 

He’d found those things endearing once upon a time, in the early days of their relationship, back when he’d come by the apothecary after closing and crowd her up against the door or the counter. It used to be a game between them - kisses pressed along her wrists, shoulders, and neck until he could correctly guess which fruits or herbs she’d been working with that day.

She didn’t know when it had all changed but she supposed it was only to be expected given just how quickly things had progressed between them in the first place. 

…

Elain had met Graysen a couple months after she’d moved to Meadowview. 

She’d sworn off boys and deleted all her apps. The intention had been to take some time for herself for the first time in her entire adult life and figure out what the hell she was doing. But the universe seemingly had other plans because one week before Thanksgiving, Graysen approached Elain in the wine aisle of her local grocery store.

She’d seen him for the first time a few weeks before that. He’d been studying the bottles of wine on the top shelf and she’d caught him sneaking glances in her direction as she half heartedly scanned the lower shelves looking for something good and cheap. They’d exchanged a few coy smiles, a casual wave in greeting or farewell, but never anything more. It wasn’t until they’d ended up in the same aisle at the same time for the third week in a row that Graysen finally decided to make his move.

Elain had seen it coming from a mile away. She’d caught that initial spark of interest the very first time their eyes had met two weeks prior and she’d seen the determination in the set of his shoulders when he turned the corner that night and saw her crouched down as she tried to decide between two bottles of wine.  She wasn’t even a little bit surprised when she shifted her gaze from the wine in her hands to see the supple leather shoes that had stepped into place beside her, standing in stark contrast to her own dirt streaked, worn white sneakers.

She’d slowly dragged her eyes up to see him looking down at her with a confident and obviously practiced smile - one that Elain figured he’d used on countless women over the years, easily charming them into a date or into his bed.

Graysen was tall and lean with sandy hair cropped close to his scalp and bright blue eyes that seemed to pierce straight through her. He was impeccably dressed - always in a well tailored shirt and pants with cufflinks neatly pinned to his sleeves and an expensive, probably designer, belt wrapped around his waist.

He’d introduced himself to her after she stood up on wobbly legs and Elain had found herself falling victim to that easy charm. She’d said yes to a drink with him - yes to a drink with this complete stranger - perhaps out of boredom, perhaps as a way to distract herself from the memories that continued to haunt her of her life back home, of the loss of her father, and the friend that had been there for her in the weeks after - the one that hadn’t so much as batted an eye as she ruined his t-shirts with the salt from her tears. 

She’d gone out with Graysen for a drink that Saturday night and it had been… fine. 

Graysen was wonderfully vanilla. Perfectly predictable. He had a routine and he stuck to it. He was just like all the other guys she tended to date - guys that were so far removed from her actual type. Which when she really thought about it, came down to just one particular man with broad shoulders and hazel eyes flecked with green if you only got close enough to notice. 

She’d felt so neutral about Graysen that she hadn’t been particularly interested in seeing him again after that first night. Their date had lasted a few hours. He’d showed off by ordering an extensive bottle of wine and then explaining the various notes and flavours to her in extensive detail. He told her about his job but hadn’t really asked about hers. He hadn’t really asked her much at all that night, when she thought about it. She’d given him a kiss on the cheek and sent him on his way at the end of the night, telling him that she’d be going out of town soon but maybe they could catch up for another drink or dinner when she got back. 

She had no intention of actually following through on that until she’d gone back home and royally fucked everything up by acting on a long suppressed impulse and ending her Christmas tangled in the sheets of her best friend’s bed.

What happened with Azriel was the exact reminder Elain needed that she’d been right to avoid being alone with him in the months leading up to Christmas. It was also the reminder she needed that she’d gone from relationship to relationship when she lived back home for a reason. Because even then, before the idea of Azriel being anything more than a friend had taken root in her mind, she’d somehow subconsciously known that dating someone else was the only way to keep her from falling hard and fast for him.

She’d called upon that go-to tactic once again when she’d returned back to Meadowview and decided that a distraction was extremely necessary and long overdue because just a few months of being single had sent her running into Azriel’s arms not once, but twice.

Graysen had been the obvious option. One quick text and Elain was on the road to moving forward. At least that’s what she tried to tell herself. 

Elain had taken it upon herself to figure out exactly what Graysen was looking for in a girl quite early into knowing him and she’d adjusted herself accordingly - quickly and easily falling into an all too familiar routine of molding herself to be whatever someone wanted or expected her to be. She’d done it for her parents, for her sister, for her friends. And she most certainly did it for the men she dated. 

She’d always excelled at it. She knew exactly how to tailor herself to be what a man desired and she’d been fine tuning her skills from a young age, leaning into the covertness of being just a pretty face. She knew how to stay quiet and be demure. She knew to let them take the spotlight, knew when to laugh at their jokes. To let them kiss her but to hold back on sex just long enough to keep them wanting more. 

She’d done it all with Graysen - knew that he would love the idea of taking a pretty girl who was just a little bit rough around the edges and putting her in a sophisticated dress and expensive jewelry. Knew he’d like that she was  quiet with only a few friends so that she could dedicate all her spare time to him. She’d leaned into the bit of her personality that she knew he’d love and shoved every other part of her to the side until even she forgot that they’d ever existed. She’d done it so effectively and efficiently that he’d wanted to parade her around his friends and high flying colleagues mere weeks after she’d sent him that first text.

It was supposed to be casual. It was supposed to be like all her other previous relationships that were really nothing more than just the occasional dinner and sex a few times a week until they inevitably saw through her lack of commitment and called it off. It certainly wasn’t supposed to go as far as meeting his parents and she definitely hadn’t thought that she’d ever agree to introducing him - or anyone else she’d dated - to her family. 

But here they were, three months and one disastrous dinner later.

Elain had never met Graysen’s parents before but she’d heard stories and she’d seen the photos that dotted his swanky apartment in the heart of the city. She’d known just from the look of them - the severe posture and those clinical smiles - that she could expect them to be just like their son.

She’d been nervous to meet them but she’d been somewhat confident that she could charm them in the same way that she’d charmed Graysen and all the other men before him. She’d been wrong, so very wrong.

Graysen’s father had been alright. He hadn’t said much to her other than a hello and a murmured  interesting that dripped in condescension after she’d informed them that she worked at an apothecary running soap making workshops and lecturing patrons on the many intricacies of herbal teas. His mother, however, hadn’t even tried to hide her distaste. Elain wondered if it wasn’t so much a personal vendetta against her specifically or something broader - a preordained disdain for any girl her only son might’ve brought to meet her. 

Veronica had stared daggers at Elain for the better part of two hours - the same piercing blue eyes as her son shamelessly cataloging Elain’s black dress, one she’d spent a good chunk of her paycheck on when she’d clued into the types of restaurants and venues that Graysen liked to frequent and realised that her thrifted flowy skirts and dresses wouldn’t suffice. She’d noticed the tight frown on the woman’s thin lips as she marked the chipped red nail polish on Elain’s index finger along with that smear of cherry juice along the side of her palm. That frown had only increased each time she spoke and Veronica realised that her perfect, accomplished only son had brought a girl with two dead parents and an unfinished college degree to meet her.

Elain ran her thumb along the chain of her necklace, pressing the pad of her finger into the engraved rose as she tried to figure out how she could possibly salvage this evening but with each mile marker they passed, she only found herself withdrawing further and further into herself until all the light had left Graysen’s eyes and the grip of the hand he had on the steering wheel had turned his knuckles white. 

For twenty minutes, she sat in the car and rehashed every second, trying to figure out what she could’ve done better. Had she talked too much? Too little? Laughed too loud like she had a tendency to do when she got nervous?

They were almost back to his apartment when she felt his attention on her again. Elain raised her eyes to his just as his hand fell to her thigh, fingers pressing in lightly through the satin of her dress. 

“Lain,” Graysen started. 

“I told you not to call me that.” Elain interrupted him.  Only one person had ever used that nickname for her and she couldn’t stand the sound of it from anyone else, but especially not from another man. She’d made that clear to Graysen in their first few weeks together.

“El,” Graysen corrected himself, sighing in frustration before he continued. “My mom can be extremely critical but she’ll come around.” 

“You didn’t even try, Gray. You didn’t even try to defend me or anything.”

“I know. I should have said something but I was just frustrated because I told you to clean up and I thought you’d answer their questions -” 

“You’re turning it on me again,” Elain pinched the bridge of her nose. “What did you want me to do? Lie about my career? Tell them that I grew up like you did?”. 

“No, I just… fuck, I just wanted them to like you because I… I love you.” Graysen paused, reaching for her hand. “You know I love you. Don’t you, El?”

Elain’s heart dropped and she tensed under his grip as a flood of indecipherable feelings hit her. 

This wasn’t the first time she’d received a halfhearted apology from him after he’d hurt her feelings and she suspected it wouldn’t be the last. At least this time the apology had come directly from him in a timely manner instead of being delivered as a note written by someone else and attached to an overpriced bouquet of flowers or yet another necklace that would sit on her dresser untouched for months to come. 

“I know, it’s fine.” She finally said, bringing his hand up to her lips and pressing a kiss to the back of his palm. He’d told her he loved her a few times now but she’d never said it back. Not when she couldn’t quite return the sentiment. Instead, she waited for him to pull into the driveway and put the car in park before she leant over the center console and slid her hand up his neck to tilt his face towards hers for a slow, deep kiss. 

Once he pulled away, forehead against hers, chest rising and falling unsteadily, Elain laughed under her breath and gently tapped the sliver of skin visible where he’d undone the first couple of buttons on his crisp, white shirt. “Maybe my sisters will hate you and then we can call it even.”

A small part of her regretted the pettiness of the words but she couldn’t help but allow herself to make the joke, not after the night they’d had. Luckily for her, it seemed that her kiss had done enough to diffuse the situation because he didn’t come back with a sharp retort of his own. Just a huff of breath and a small shake of his head as he turned the engine off. 

Two weeks. She had two weeks until she had to make good on her panicked decision to go home for Nyx’s fifth birthday and then the accompanying panicked agreement she’d made when Graysen suggested accompanying her on the trip in front of his parents.

Elain pushed the thought from her mind. She couldn't think about all that would entail. What going back home would now look like. How much more anxious she felt about it now compared to her last trip back home because now she had an actual reason to be nervous. 

It wasn’t enough to be faced with the predicament of potentially seeing Azriel again but this time she had to do it while pretending that they hadn’t done what they’d done… and she’d have to do it all with her new boyfriend watching as a front row spectator. 

She’d never once introduced any of the guys she’d dated to her family. Never once had they stepped foot into her house or shaken her father’s hand. Not a single one of them had ever been subjected to the scrutiny of Nesta’s menacing gaze. 

But she couldn’t very well say anything to deter him now. She’d gotten herself into this hole and now there was no way out. 

She knew it was a stupid decision to take him back home with her but a small, reckless part of her wondered if this wasn’t for the best because even after months of establishing a relationship with Graysen in the hopes of erasing what she’d done with Azriel, it was a lost cause.

 It wasn’t even the memory of his skin under her palms that hurt the most, it was everything else she’d lost as a result of crossing that line. 

It felt like she was missing a huge chunk of herself. There were empty spaces in her life where Azriel used to be and as much as she’d tried to fill in those gaps with someone else, it just wasn’t the same. She still found herself checking her phone first thing in the morning to see if he’d texted her. She missed seeing his picture pop up on her phone when he called. The random photos of Shadow he used to send her and the constant stream of conversation between them. All their inside jokes. She found reminders of him everywhere and it was hell to keep pretending like she was fine with it all. To keep pretending that anyone else would ever be able to understand her the way Azriel had.

But she’d done this. She’d made that first move and ruined something that had been so natural and easy. 

Maybe it was best to take Graysen back home and put the final nail in the coffin because with any luck,  introducing someone to her family - to Azriel - would make this all real and would force her to move on once and for all.

… 

Azriel sat at Feyre and Rhys’s kitchen counter, woefully tossing MnMs at their toddler who was trying - and failing - to catch them in his mouth. 

He’d been spending the last few weeks like this, trailing Rhysand’s family like a lost puppy because he simply had nothing better to do with his life. 

It’d been just over three months since he’d woken up to an empty bed after what he might’ve deemed to be the best night of his life had it not all gone to hell and while he thought it would get easier with time, it most certainly hadn’t. 

Every day was the same. Wake up, walk Shadow, work out with Cassian, log in to work and stare at a screen for hours on end, walk Shadow again, go to bed. Rinse. Repeat. 

He’d tried all his old tactics of distractions but no amount of drinking in his local bar or aimlessly flirting with whatever girl inevitably sauntered up to him could ease the ache that had taken root in his chest. He hadn’t been able to be with anyone else since that night. He’d tried - just once - a couple weeks after Christmas, and it had ended with him abruptly pulling away from a half naked, very confused girl just as she’d reached for his belt. He’d apologised profusely and left her apartment promptly to go back to his own house and contemplate how he’d gone from a regular rotation of casual hookups to not even being able to kiss a girl without thinking about Elain.

Really, he shouldn’t have been surprised because Elain was all he ever thought about. Every day. Every night. Each time he flipped over his phone just to check if maybe she’d decided to break her silence. He’d been torturing himself endlessly like this for months now to no avail. 

It’s why - when he heard Feyre mention Elain’s name in passing as she spoke to Rhys- he found himself speaking before he could even think to stop himself. 

“How’s she been?” He asked, trying desperately to keep his voice level as he reminded himself that there was nothing unusual about asking after a friend. 

Still, Rhys gave him one of those looks that he’d been giving him for years at the slightest mention of his wife’s older sister. He wondered if Rhys would go into cardiac arrest if he ever found out exactly what Azriel had done with his friend’s beloved sister-in-law.

“She’s good!” Feyre gave him a bright smile. “I actually spoke to her yesterday for the first time in weeks.”

There was nothing on her face to hint that she knew exactly why he was asking. He certainly hadn’t said anything to her after Christmas. He’d kept what happened to himself. Had only casually asked Nesta about her sister’s whereabouts just to be told that Elain had needed to leave because of an emergency at work.

“Oh, that’s good.” Azriel returned her smile with a small one of his own.

“She’s coming back for a visit in a couple weeks.” Feyre continued, her smile faltering ever so slightly.

Azriel stilled. 

“For Nyx’s birthday,” Rhys chimed in, once again carefully studying Azriel before he continued. “And she’s bringing… what’s his name, again?” 

“Graysen.” Feyre nodded, raising up onto her tiptoes and then back down again. It was a nervous habit of hers that Azriel had picked up on by the second or third time he’d hung out with her because she’d done it constantly around Rhys in those early days.

Graysen.

He could pretend that he’d never heard that name before but he’d be lying if he didn’t say he’d scrolled through Elain’s social media to find a picture of him the first time he’d heard Feyre and Nesta gossiping about some new guy Elain had been seeing back in January. He hadn’t found much, just a glimpse of blonde hair and an expensive watch in the background of a picture she’d taken while out to dinner..

He’d seen no sign of a man in any of her limited posts since then and he’d selfishly hoped that that had meant it hadn’t gone anywhere.

“He’s coming back with her? Here?” Azriel asked slowly, staring straight at Feyre while refusing to look at Rhys. He knew his friend’s eyes would be narrowed in suspicion.

A soft ringing filled Azriel’s ears as his heart slammed against his chest. He didn’t let any of it show on the outside, going out of his way to maintain that calm and collected mask he was known for. But it was dread that coursed through him. Dread that extinguished any hope and excitement he might have once felt at the prospect of Elain returning home.

“Yeah. It must be serious,” Feyre swallowed as she once again raised up onto her tiptoes and then back down again before she met Azriel’s eyes. He was usually so good at reading people but for the first time ever, he couldn’t quite put his thumb on what he saw in Feyre’s gaze as she looked at him. “If she’s actually willing to let us meet him.” 

[eddie-sweetheart]

I'm sorry I'm late, sweetheart

After the tragic death of your boyfriend Eddie Munson in the Upside Down, you embark on your grieving journey - but you have no idea what you'll find at the end.

Or, Eddie is alive, but only Dustin and Steve know.

Tropes: Eddie x female reader, fix-it fic, lost love, fluff, happy ending.

Warnings: Mention and/or depiction of violence and death. Themes of grief and loss. Slurs and very mean things being said about Eddie.

Word count: 6k

Author's notes: I started this fic as a fix-it blurb and it turned into a whole one-shot fic that I actually loved writing. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

🌹 Masterlist 🌹

Gif source

“Eddie, NO!”

You scream, your heart dropping to your stomach as you witness your boyfriend, Eddie Munson, cutting the rope of sheets that trails through the portal in his trailer’s ceiling with his makeshift spear. 

“Eddie what are you doing? Come back!” Your brother Dustin yells by your side, his hands frantically tearing at his own hair. 

You have managed to divert the attention of the demobats successfully, you have run back inside the trailer without a scratch and you are finally a step away from safety - there is no way you are letting him do something… stupid, at this point. 

As time stretches into painfully long seconds, a terrifying suspicion creeps up inside you when Eddie looks down (or up?) at you both, a resolute light in his eyes that you have noticed only once in the past. 

“I’m buying more time” he states, his gaze briefly turning towards the violently shaking door behind him just to come back to your shocked and pleading eyes one last time. “I love you, y/n. Please run”.

And as the horror of what is inevitably going to occur starts seeping into your every bone, freezing you still at the realization of what the consequences of Eddie’s heroic gesture will be, you finally wake up. 

--- • ---

One month has passed since that doomed journey in the Upside Down, when your plan to defeat Vecna miserably failed, Hawkins succumbed to the “earthquake” (as they naively defined it on tv) and your heart was irreparably shattered into a thousand pieces. 

And for exactly thirty nights in a row, the same devastating nightmare has been haunting your sleep, making you watch again and again the events that led to the worst moment of your life: Eddie’s death. A death that you tried to, but couldn’t stop - a death so useless to you as it was meaningful for him. Because it didn’t matter that you already knew he was brave and selfless and heroic, and not the mean and scary freak that everyone had unjustly branded him or the coward he believed he was - he needed to prove it to himself to truly find his own redemption. 

And so, he didn’t run this time. He didn’t run when the demobats swarmed around him, he didn’t run when they attacked him mercilessly and left him wounded and bleeding on the ground. And even if his courage was painfully clear to you when you and Dustin found him lying there, after you’d managed to climb back through the portal to go after him, even then he needed confirmation. And so he asked you, while warm blood trickled out of his mouth and into your hands, mixing with your tears as you repeatedly whispered “no, you didn’t” and peppered his face with trembling kisses that you stupidly thought would heal him. But, sadly, love doesn’t heal all wounds, especially bleeding ones. So, just like that, he was gone - and your whole world disappeared with him. 

The nightmare usually stopped at this point, because the rest of what had happened was a blur. You only remembered pieces of it - the screaming, and the tears, and calling his name as someone (Dustin?) held you tight. Then someone else had arrived, and they’d managed to untangle you from Eddie’s body, but you couldn’t stop looking at it, no matter how they tried to soothe you and tell you to go on, to walk back. You couldn’t really recall if it was Nancy or Robin that had helped you back through the portal, maybe it was both - but somehow you’d found yourself under the night sky in the trailer park, then into a car, and suddenly the ground was shaking and eventually it was all black. 

--- • ---

During the first week, you stayed in bed. Blinds shut, lights off, door locked, you spent your time crying and staring into the dark, replaying those horrible hours in your head and in your sleep, feeling pangs of guilt and helplessness alternating to maniacal moments of disbelief and denial. 

The excuse that Dustin had concocted to give some kind of explanation to your mother (whose tender nature, unexpectedly, had made her approve of your relationship with Eddie from the start and believe you when you’d pleaded his innocence in the whole Chrissy ordeal) was that he had died in the earthquake that had shaken Hawkins to its core - the same excuse he would later use with Eddie’s uncle, Wayne. 

You admired how well Dustin had seemed to take the loss of one of his best friends and, as you had clearly understood early on, one of his two father figures - but you knew he was grieving, too. Even if you blocked out anything that wasn’t your pain, the knot of tears in his voice never went unnoticed when he tried to talk to you through the door, knocking softly on the white-painted surface to see if you would let him in. But you just couldn’t, not yet. So you kept laying in your bed, sobbing in silence as you heard Dustin slide down along the doorframe, one pillow propped against it as he sat on the floor of the corridor, waiting for you and keeping watch. 

--- • ---

“Come on, kid” Steve urgently tells Dustin, holding his arms firmly around the crying teen’s shaking shoulders, his gaze frantically scanning their surroundings as he senses that something is wrong. Beyond his own suspicion and fear that the Upside Down might collapse and swallow them whole anytime now, he can still feel the weight in his chest that has not left him since the discovery of Eddie’s body. But he can’t allow himself to lose it, too - not right now. He needs to stay focused, for Dustin and for everyone else. 

“I know it’s hard, but we need to go” he repeats to his friend, too worn out to find a way to sugarcoat it. 

“We can’t leave him here” Dustin blurts out resolutely as he turns towards Steve, tears still welling up in his eyes, “I will not leave him here”. 

Steve sighs, eyebrows furrowed while he tries to find a quick solution. It’s the low rumbling in the distance that finds it for him. 

“Okay” he suddenly states, “you take his feet, I’ll drag him by his arms. We need to be fast”. 

A mix of adrenaline and desperation fills the two boys with renewed energy, as they lift Eddie’s mangled and bleeding body up and carry him towards the darker version of his trailer. Robin and Nancy are already back in your dimension - one anxiously waiting for Dustin and Steve at the edge of the portal, the other hugging you tight on the front lawn. 

“Guys, what-“ Robin begins, her words quickly dying as a lump forms in her throat at the sight of her friends’ cargo. 

“Help us carry him up” Steve asks her with a pleading look, and she doesn’t utter another word as the three of them struggle to make a lifeless Eddie go through the passage. Somehow, they make it - and they’re now panting and sweating in silence on the trailer’s carpeted floor, Dustin’s sobs occasionally piercing the warm air. 

As another, closer rumble vibrates underneath them, Steve snaps back to consciousness and starts rummaging through the pockets of his newly acquired leather jacket. 

“Get the car, it should still be in the parking lot” he tells Robin as he hands her the keys he’s just found, “Take the girls home. We’ll take care of him” he adds, nodding towards Dustin and Eddie. 

Robin nods, worry pervading her face as she heads towards the door. “Be safe” is all she manages to say before disappearing into the dark of the night. 

Steve and Dustin take one last breath before standing up and resuming their positions, struggling under Eddie’s weight as they make their way outside and through the trailer park. As soon as they cross the edge of the woods surrounding the area, now definitely safe from unwanted attention, they carefully place Eddie’s body down on the soft grass to take a break and decide on the next move. 

It’s Dustin who notices first. All it takes is one fortuitous glance downwards, and then he’s suddenly on his knees yelling at a confused Steve. 

“Steve, look” he exclaims, not giving a damn if someone hears him, “he’s breathing - he’s alive!”

--- • ---

It was on day seven that your bedroom door unlocked and you opened a way for others to reach you through your grief. Dustin knew it was day seven because he’d been counting, waiting for this moment and knowing that even if you were the older sister and you’d always taken care of him, it would soon be his turn to return the favor and be there for you. 

And god only knew how much you needed him to be there, after everything you'd gone through together. Once you tentatively took a step outside your room, you finally let yourself sink into his hug, the last tears still inside you dripping on his Camp Know Where t-shirt as he calmly whispered “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay”. 

After Dustin, it was Robin, Nancy and Steve. Taking turns, they came by to keep you company, get you something to eat, take you out on a walk or just be with you - much as Lucas was trying to do with an unconscious Max at the hospital. You were okay with most of their efforts and wholeheartedly appreciated their concern - but the walks, you loathed them. Because even if the city had been ripped apart, even if people were looking for lost family and friends among the ruins and wreckage, even if most of Hawkins citizens were moving away in long car queues, it was still late spring, the birds were still singing and the sun was still shining warm and bright above all the destruction and loss. 

And this powerful light in the blue sky felt like a personal offense to you, it insulted you to your core - because how could the world still go round and be unexpectedly beautiful if the person you loved was no longer in it? What use were the birds’ songs if you would never listen again to Eddie’s voice? Why did the grass bother to be so soft if it could not compete against Eddie’s tattooed skin and daring lips anymore? Why would you care to smile at your favorite flowers now that you couldn’t laugh at Eddie’s snarky remarks and dirty jokes? It made no sense, at all. It was disgusting. 

But you walked at your friends' side nonetheless, the more reasonable part of you knowing that fresh air was good for your tired body. And it went like this for a whole week, until the pain slowly turned into a new numbness, the perfect hiding spot for growing rage. 

--- • ---

“How are you feeling?” Dustin asks Eddie as he checks his temperature in the dim light of the living room in Hopper’s cabin. 

The abandoned wooden building in the middle of Hawkins’ woods has been their hiding spot for the past week. After a few emergency adjustments, Steve and Dustin have managed to make the place as livable as possible, turning the main room into a temporary hospital wing - the bed being an old mattress on the floor on which a slowly healing Eddie has been carefully placed. 

During the city-wise panic that followed the earthquake, they even managed to raid a local pharmacy, going unnoticed as they collected bandages and supplies that they later used to cure and treat the demobat wounds that were scattered on Eddie’s body. Their work surely isn’t the best, but since there is still no trace of fever or infections, they deduce that it is good enough. 

At Dustin’s question, Eddie sighs, his breath way less troubled than it was when they first brought him here. 

“Never been better, man” he replies ironically, taking a sip from a glass of water on the floor next to him. “How is she?” He then adds, repeating the question he’s been posing to his two rescuers every day for almost seven days. 

Dustin briefly gazes at Steve, who’s leaning against the wooden wall of the cabin. He attentively stares back at Dustin, thinking and then almost imperceptibly shaking his head at him after a few seconds. 

“Uhm” Dustin hesitates, his eyes now fixed on the thermometer in his hands as he blushes lightly, “she’s getting by”. 

Eddie immediately spots the lie. 

“I need to see her” he protests as he attempts to lift himself up on the mattress, immediately wincing in pain as Steve and Dustin help him lie down again. 

“It’s probably best if you don’t right now” Steve states once Eddie’s resting again, “the fewer people know, the less we risk the police finding out about you. You should lay low and take time to heal. We are taking care of her” he reassures his friend, placing a comforting hand on the bare skin of his only unwounded shoulder. 

“It’s for her own good, too” Dustin adds with a small smile, “we all know she’d be too stubborn to avoid coming here all the time”. 

Eddie unconvincingly nods, too weak to argue back. He’s still staring at the ceiling when Steve and Dustin finally leave, saying goodbye until the following day. 

--- • ---

The funeral - or whatever concealed and lesser version of a funeral that was - was at the beginning of week three. 

Eleven, Mike, Will and Jonathan had just come back from California. Joyce wasn’t with them, but she had been replaced by a weird but kind-looking dude with very long hair - Argyle, a friend of Jonathan’s. Seeing the rest of your best friends again and being reunited with the whole group brought you whatever little glimpse of ephemeral joy you could still feel, but it did little to placate the raging, pain-fueled fire that had started burning inside you. 

It burned when tears choked you and prevented you from speaking under the solitary tree that stood out in the fields outside Hawkins - the only place where everyone was almost completely sure that the small memorial cross you had created and decorated with Eddie’s guitar pick necklace wouldn’t be disturbed. It burned as you watched the thin chain slowly sway in the warm breeze of the approaching summer, reminding you how it used to hang on Eddie’s chest, barely visible under his Hellfire t-shirt. It burned when you caught a glimpse of the horns and slurs that some douchebag had sketched on the missing posters pinned by Eddie’s uncle to the announcement board in the high school gym, which had been set up as emergency accommodation for those who had lost their home. 

That same fire burned stronger while you took your first walk on your own, one early evening before dinner. It burned just like the sunset that was radiating in the sky, its dark reds and oranges perfectly matching the flashes of light coming from the otherworldly rips that had torn the city apart. It burned as you asked yourself - asked him, how could he? How could he go back, risk his life just to lose it without anything changing? How could he leave you in that maimed world, thinking it wouldn’t affect you? How could he be so selfless, so fucking brave, so… Eddie?

You kicked a stone across the road, the last hint of self-control left in you preventing you from punching the nearest tree. 

You’d only hurt yourself and it wouldn’t change anything. Be reasonable. 

Any pain would be better than this torture, anyways. That was your train of thought when you walked by two girls from your school. You barely recognized them as two friends of Chrissy’s from the cheer squad. You obviously didn’t bother saying hi, as you kept walking and staring at the dirty concrete.

However, as you turned sideways to let them pass on the sidewalk, you couldn’t ignore their poisonous glare and the slur that one of them whispered at you, loud just enough for you to hear. It was the final straw, the only excuse that your raging mood needed to overcome all your other feelings. You turned around, looking straight at them.

“What did you just say?”

The two girls stopped and turned around, one of them cautiously looking at the other, who had spoken - and who spoke again with a mean sneer.

“Just what everyone is thinking” she replied, holding her head high with a challenging nod, arms crossed on her chest.

“Say that again” you insisted, taking a step towards her, “and say it to my face”.

The girl snickered and seemed more than happy to comply. 

“I said, look at the Devil’s whore” she spelled out, slowly, “And that’s not even the full extent of it. Care to hear the rest?”

You froze still, the fire within you burning stronger and stronger. But you managed to stay calm a little longer as the girl took your stare as a silent consensus to keep going.

“Everyone in this town” she went ahead, matching your step, “is glad that your psychopathic, murderous boyfriend is gone. He deserved to die. He killed Chrissy and those other two guys in cold blood, probably had been dreaming about it for ages, wetting himself in his sleep at the thought. You know what? He probably got Jason too, who instead tried to protect us from the satanic killing spree of that disgusting cult Munson led. And you should have gone with him, wherever he is - probably rotting in the pits of hell” she concluded, smirking. “I hope he suffered like a dog”.

It happened very fast and very slow at the same time. You didn’t realize that you had closed the distance between your bodies until you saw your fist hovering towards her face in slow motion. You didn’t expect it to hurt when your knuckles hit her cheekbone, but it didn’t matter, really. All that mattered was that you were furious with her, with Hawkins, with the whole world - and you were tired of playing nice and holding back when all you (and Eddie) got in exchange were lies and insults and disrespect. What was the use in explaining that the “psychopathic, murderous leader of a satanic cult” had instead almost saved the whole town?

“You fucking bitch-“ you muttered, moving to have a go at her one more time, but your fist never reached her face again. You hadn’t noticed that her friend had come to her rescue, and she was now grabbing and pulling your hair to get you away from the bleeding victim of your rage. You gasped in surprise when she yanked harder and your breath was knocked out of you once you fell and hit the ground on your back.

The girl you’d hit charged back towards you, straddling your core and arms to hold you still. Droplets of blood trickled from her nose onto your face as she slapped you again and again with one hand, the other tight on your throat.

“Angela, I think that’s enough” her friend exclaimed at some point.

“One more for payback” Angela replied, hitting you with a final punch right under your eye. Stars exploded into your sight, bright and glittering and painful - then, you finally felt the release on your chest and your throat as the girl stood up and ran away with her friend.

--- • ---

“Who was it? Tell me right fucking now, Henderson” Eddie growls, anger filling him up as he suddenly stands and moves towards Dustin.

In the past few weeks, his health has improved drastically. The demobat wounds have turned out to be more superficial than they suspected at first, and once they healed almost completely, all that has been left for Eddie to do is to get his strength back - which he's doing amazingly. Not that the cabin offers much more entertainment than taking a few steps, laying around, reading and thinking about you.

So it’s more than understandable that all this bottled-up energy that Eddie has accumulated is on the verge of exploding now that Dustin has inadvertently mentioned your close encounter with Angela from yesterday.

“She didn’t tell me who did it” Dustin stutters, taking one step back from a raging Eddie. “Not that she needed to say anything at all, you know - I mean, the black eye and split lip were quite-“

“Jesus, Dustin” Steve interrupts his rambling with a glare. He really doesn’t think that Eddie needs to hear all the details that will inevitably rile him up even more and, in the worst-case scenario, make him do something stupid - like leave the cabin or punch a wall and open his wounds up again.

“But she’s okay, now! I swear” Dustin exclaims, and he means it. 

Eddie sits back down on the slumped sofa while rubbing his hands on his face nervously, ruffling his fringe with the motion as a million thoughts run through his mind. You, in a fist fight? To defend him? Even if the thought that you would go to such a length for him makes his heart flutter (god, a small part of him even knows that you surely looked so hot while punching some bitchy brat), the worry about you being okay is way greater than any other feeling. Except, maybe, guilt.

“It’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair” he mutters, “she doesn’t deserve to go through this because of me”. His round, dark eyes meet Steve’s, a silent plead glimmering in them as clear as daylight.

All he wants right now is to be there for you, hold you, get lost in your beautiful eyes and let his hands wander through your hair, never letting go of you again. He knows it’s risky, he knows that he could be caught if they weren’t all going to be careful - but he also knows that you need him right now, more than ever.

Steve sighs. “Look, man” he says, “Give us a few more days. We’ll see what we can do”.

“Maybe” Dustin chips in, “We could ask the others. They will help. They miss you too, you know” he tells Eddie with a smile. Eddie smiles back.

--- • ---

Week four has been the craziest yet. If you thought that going into literal hell, losing the love of your life to a swarm of winged monsters, getting into a fist fight and miserably losing was a lot, you weren’t prepared to the most surreal news you’ve ever heard.

Hopper is alive, and he’s back in Hawkins.

When Dustin rushed into your room to tell you a few days ago, finding you sitting in front of the mirror as you hopelessly looked at the dark blue ring under your left eye, you thought it was a joke. You even laughed, but you stopped as soon as you realized he was serious.

Hopper is alive, and that’s… good news. Now that the anger has finally calmed down and you’re back to feeling a little bit more like yourself, you can allow yourself to be happy about it. Sure, there’s a tiny part of you whose heart tightens a little at the thought that maybe, just maybe… but you don’t dare go further than that, so you push that wish in the back of your head as hard as you can.

--- • ---

“Hopper is alive!” Steve exclaims as he pushes the cabin door open and bursts into the room, Dustin excitedly trailing after him.

Eddie stares up at them in confusion above the bowl of milk and Honeycomb cereals he’s been aimlessly poking at for the past ten minutes. 

“The chief of police?” He asks gesturing with the spoon in his hand, not really knowing how that’s supposed to be interesting - until he remembers that, according to Dustin’s recounting of past events back in Reefer Rick’s shed, he was supposedly gone for good after Starcourt.

“Yes” Steve states, going up to him and placing both his hands on the chipped wooden table. “And he knows about the Upside Down, and now about Vecna. Do you know what that means?”

Eddie doesn’t reply, too afraid to burst the little bubble of hope that is starting to grow in his chest. Instead, he looks at Dustin - who clearly cannot contain his excitement anymore.

“He can clear your name, Eddie!” the kid finally bursts out, clapping his hands and doing little jumps on the spot where he’s standing, “He can clear your name and you can be free!”

--- • ---

If there is one thing that can be said, is that you’re really trying to do your best. One month has passed - and sure as hell, there will never be enough time in the world for you to get over Eddie Munson and the not-so-little hole that he has left in your heart. It’s still unbearably painful, life still sucks - but you’re learning to live with it one minute at a time, your new purpose being the constant search for ways to feel closer to him.

You have the guitar pick necklace always hanging close to your heart and never leaving your neck, for instance. You grabbed it with no hesitation after the small vigil in the fields was over and everyone was heading back to Steve’s and Nancy’s cars to give you some time alone. You really weren’t able to let go of that little piece of him. 

You also listen to metal music all the time, and you don’t care if it’s not your genre. You can now recognize the riffs and melodies that you casually listened to during Corroded Coffin’s practice sessions, and you go back to your memories of Eddie dancing wildly in his room, headbanging into a headache that you would have to help him treat the following day - the perfect excuse for endless forehead kisses.

You eat Honeycomb and drink Yoo-hoo every day at breakfast, remembering how sweet Eddie’s lips tasted after he had some as a late-night snack. He used to wake you up as he struggled to (quite unwillingly) disentangle himself from your hug just to have you follow him in the dark - and you always ended up dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator light as he sipped on the chocolate drink, giggling under your breath to avoid waking his uncle up as well.

The memories feel good, but lately “good” often makes you cry. And since you don’t want to burden your family and friends with your grief anymore, as soon as you hear Dustin open the front door and call your name, you quickly turn around to dry your tears, pretending you’re just washing the cereal bowl in the sink.

“Y/n” he says, stepping into the kitchen with a small smile, “Hi”.

“Hi, Dusty Bun” you jokingly reply as you ruffle his curly hair, a matching smile appearing on your lips as you’re determined to put on a brave face for him.

“Are you busy right now?” He asks, fingers lightly tapping on the counter.

You actually don’t know. You’re not busy, but are you in the mood for anything?

“Why are you asking?” 

Dustin shrugs. “Steve’s here, we’re going on a short drive. Get some fresh air, you know?” He cautiously replies, “Will you join us? Please?”

He’s putting on that soft puppy face you can’t say no to, and he knows what he’s doing. You sigh, pondering on it one more time. But today you’ve opted for bravery, so after a while, you nod, although still a little unconvinced.

“Great! Amazing” Dustin exclaims, “We’ll wait in the car”.

You get dressed and try to fix your messy hair a little, giving up quickly. No need to impress anyone today, right?

--- • ---

The drive is actually shorter than you imagined. Steve stops at the edge of the woods and proposes to walk a bit - you’re there, so you can’t really refuse. You guess some exercise might do you good.

While you walk on the path that leads to Hopper’s cabin through the thick trees, Dustin and Steve occasionally making small talk, you wonder if that place is still standing after all that’s happened. And once it comes into sight you’re surprised to find out that it still does.

“Why are we here?” You ask out of pure curiosity, but as you notice the uncanny looks that Steve and Dustin exchange at your question, your heart starts beating a little faster.

“Guys, what is going on?” You repeat, completely clueless on what to expect from the meeting - which, clearly, has always had a purpose. Maybe this is some sort of intervention, and everyone else will appear from the woods to talk to you, console you, or suggest that you should be locked up in Pennhurst because, frankly, you’re losing your mind here-

“There’s something we need to tell you” Steve begins, placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder. “Good news, actually, so no need to worry”.

You take a deep breath and feel a little better.

“Hopper is at the police station right now” Steve continues, his eyes set on yours to check if you’re okay. “He’s talking to the authorities with some agents from Hawkins Lab - they are explaining everything. Well, most of it and in a watered-down version, anyway”.

You nod. That’s great, but there must be something else.

Dustin comes closer to you. “They’re clearing Eddie’s name” he says, holding your hand.

A tear falls slowly down your cheek and, finally, you feel the relief you’ve been looking for so much. It doesn’t heal half of your pain, but you’re incredibly grateful and… happy, you could say, that justice is being done. That Eddie can finally rest in peace.

“Really?” You ask, tearing up as you squeeze Dustin’s hand.

“Really” he replies, quickly exchanging another glance with Steve. And that’s what brings you back to your first question.

“But… why are we here, anyway?” You ask again, more relaxed this time. It’s suddenly gotten easier to breathe.

Steve nods to Dustin, who doesn’t reply but, instead, leaves your hand and goes towards the cabin. A wave of confusion hits you, but you manage to keep it at bay.

“There’s more” Steve slowly states while your eyes are still fixed on Dustin, who’s climbed up the few wooden steps that lead to the porch to disappear inside the cabin seconds later, the door carefully closing after him. “But I think it’s best if we show you”.

Steve’s hand doesn’t leave your shoulder as the door of the cabin slowly opens up once more. But it’s not Dustin coming out, not this time. 

It takes a little while for you to register what you’re seeing, because your brain seems to freeze at the sight of those dark brown, long and wavy hair and matching, perfectly round doe eyes. It’s not him, it can’t be him. You shake your head in disbelief as he slowly takes a few steps towards you, his hands finding support on the porch railing - no, it must be a joke, a horrible, cruel joke, but Steve and Dustin would never, so maybe you’ve fainted and you’re dreaming, because come on, he still has his rings on, and he looks alive, and how is his Hellfire shirt not shred into pieces? Why is there no blood? There was so much blood-

And then he steps closer, looking straight at you with tears in his eyes, and you suddenly cover your mouth, gasping, because you’ve started to notice everything else. The scars that trail down his arms and up his neck like red ink, messy companions to his tattoos; the weight of his necklace around your neck, a now obvious absence around his; the light blue denim of his jeans, so different from the black, ripped ones that he was wearing that night; the tiny, purple stain on his shirt, and you know it’s blueberry jam because you’ve tried so many times to wash it off with Dustin pleading beside you to get it ready before the next campaign-

Tears are now freely flowing down your face as you look back and forth between Steve and Dustin, who is now back outside and stands still on the porch. You don’t dare look at him, because it’s not possible, he can’t be there, he’s dead for heaven’s sake, you mourned him…

But Steve nods at you in silence, waiting. Dustin does the same. Even the birds and the trees and the breeze are watching, waiting.

“Y/n?” Eddie says, and it’s just a whisper, but it’s so loud and it’s music and it simply does the trick.

You burst out in a sob and run, closing the few meters that still separate your bodies, and they feel like a hundred miles and a few inches at the same time, but you’re in his arms and God, you could die right now and not give a damn.

You cry in Eddie’s arms, whispering his name, letting him hold you tight as he whispers yours back. You feel him with your hands, fingers exploring his body, checking for injuries; you sink your face in his neck, his scent filling you up with cigarette smoke, honey, and damp wood. You love it, you crave it, you just missed it so much. 

“How?” Is all you manage to ask once you lift your reddened eyes to his, getting lost in those pools of melted chocolate while his fingers gently graze your skin, your cheeks, your hair - you know it’s truly him because he has not lost his touch with you.

“It’s a long story, sweetheart” he replies, his lips tilted in a soft smile and just mere inches from yours, “But I’ll tell you everything. I’m sorry I was so late” he quickly adds, worry and guilt clouding his gaze for an instant, “will you forgive me?”

You kiss him right there and then. He tastes like all things sweet, and a little bit like weed. The feeling of your mouths crashing onto each other is like meeting him all over again, like finding the missing piece to a decades-old puzzle, like red fireworks on the Fourth of July. His lips perfectly match yours, both in hungry movements and in passionate desperation. When they leave your mouth to travel along the rest of your face, lightly hovering over the bruise under your eye just to flutter on your closed lids, it truly feels like everything is now back to its place.

You don’t leave his arms when Steve’s cough distracts your attention. 

“So, uhm, we’ll give you guys some space now” he says, a smile warming up his face. “We’ll keep you updated on the walkie, but it’s best if you stay inside for now-“

“You knew all along?” You interrupt him, holding tight to Eddie’s body as your gaze turns to Dustin as well.

“I’m sorry, y/n” your brother replies, “But we thought it would be easier and less risky if-“

“You kept him safe” you say, a grateful look making them both know that of course, it’s okay. “Thank you”.

“Always a pleasure” Steve chimes, his car keys jangling in his hand as he nods at Dustin. “Come on, Henderson, let’s leave the lovebirds to their nest”.

He starts walking away with Dustin, who looks at you and Eddie with the biggest grin ever. As they disappear into the woods, you turn back to Eddie, your mind still trying to wrap around the fact that he’s… alive. He notices and kisses you one more time, holding your hand as he leads you to the cabin.

The door closes behind you. The birds are singing again, while the soft breeze ruffles the green leaves of the trees.

[amaretigris]

Knock-down, Drag-out

Taglist: @luna2034 @mylittlemermaid221 @hopeisrising @daydreamerwithnohobbies @freyagallileaevans @justagirlthatlovedtoread @notagreekgal28

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Ch. 11 | 1.3k words | Angst

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After cleaning yourself up in the bathroom, you sat quietly at your seat. When you were this upset, you started analyzing every minute detail in your surroundings. You tried to distract yourself from your thoughts in any way possible. You had just finished counting the upper and lower level rows of seating when the announcer stepped into the cage. Listening to his speech, you bristled at the mention of Jonah's championship fight. You were ready to leave.

The fights went on normally. You paid close attention tonight, ready to jump into action at any moment. You were on edge with the emotions currently swirling through your chest. As Jonah entered the cage, your eyes avoided his. You missed his glance over to your form. You jumped when the first buzzer initiating the fight sounded. Your heart was hammering in your chest.

You felt each physical hit Jonah took that night; like you yourself were being jabbed in the ribs. Jonah was in the middle of the second round when he failed to block a direct blow. The powerful punch knocked him square on the side of the head. You gasped, watching his face contort in pain. Jumping up from your seat, you ran into the cage as Jonah collapsed on the mat.

After a quickly analysis, you determined that Jonah had likely suffered a concussion. You pulled your phone out to call an ambulance. The whole thing happened in a blur, and besides the phone call, you only heard ringing in your ears.

You could only recall whispering, "it's okay, it's okay," to Jonah.

Climbing into the ambulance with him to ride to the hospital, you noticed he stared straight up the entire ride there. He didn't look at you, didn't mutter a thank you, and certainly didn't give any comforting words to let you know he was okay. Did he not even care that you were here with him? Why did that hurt so much?

It wasn't until Jonah had been rushed into the ER, and sent for some imaging that you stopped to take a breath. You sobbed in the hallway, letting your back slide down the wall. You knew it was too good to be true. You knew that good things never lasted long in your life.

After close to an hour, Jonah was finally wheeled into a room similar to the one his mom was in last week. You walked to the room, but paused just outside. Inhaling a deep breath, you pulled back the curtain, and stepped in. You knew that it was obvious that you had been crying, but you didn't care.

"How are you feeling?"

You wrung your hands, and stepped toward Jonah.

"Not great. My head hurts like hell."

Jonah's eyes avoided yours again. You swallowed and nodded.

"That's my first loss," Jonah offhandedly mentioned.

Your eyes went wide.

"Really?"

"Yup," Jonah bitterly chuckled.

"I had a perfect record until tonight. Like I said, this is what happens when I get distracted."

You looked down at your feet.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to-"

"I need to take a step back," Jonah interrupted you.

Your eyes shot back up to his face.

The dull ache settled in the back of your throat at his words. The feeling was unwanted, but all too familiar. You felt it every time you lost a patient. You felt it when your dad died. And the feeling came rushing back now.

"I need to take a step back from all of it," Jonah continued in frustration, pressing his palms to his eyes.

"You mean from me?"

You already knew that he wasn't talking about his work or the fights. Jonah brought his hands down, fixing his gaze back up at the ceiling. His eyes looked red and watery.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I thought I could balance everything, but I can't. The stress of the insurance, forgetting my mom's medication, and her falling...it's too much. I feel this crushing weight of guilt constantly pressing on my chest. I think she needs to be my sole focus right now."

You pursed your lips as you felt more tears well up in your eyes. You nodded your head, more to yourself than to Jonah. You turned, yanked the curtain back, and stormed out of the room. Practically jogging to your car, you immediately started the ignition, heading straight home.

Jonah laid there in silence for a few minutes. When he heard the curtain move again, he raised his head up.

"What?!" He snapped.

Eleanor's eyes were saucers, and she put a hand to her chest.

"What's gotten into you? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Jonah furrowed his brow, laying his head back down as tears blurred his vision.

"They called me. Where's (Y/N)?"

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You were thankful to be on your Sunday/Monday weekend. The only thing you did for the next two days was sleep. You only got up to use the restroom, and eat a couple slices of toast. You hardly looked at your phone, swiping away any new messages before you could read them. You set it to airplane mode. You needed to withdraw from society for a couple days. It's not like the world would end. In fact, it was very likely that no one would even notice your absence.

Your dreams were filled with black curls and blue eyes. Each time you woke, your throat was heavy with tears. When you did allow yourself to cry, it was only for a few minutes. After that, you wiped your face, and turned on your TV. You mindlessly watched as the characters moved across the screen. You watched your favorite movies, which managed to pull hollow laughs from you now and then. Your eyes ached. Eventually lulling yourself back to sleep, you were actually relieved to have a dream about work instead of a particular person.

When it got dark on Monday, you reluctantly turned your phone off of airplane mode. You needed to be available for your work to reach you by Tuesday morning. Looking at the messages that popped up from Jonah's number, you were glad that you actually felt quite numb to it all.

Sunday

11:39 a.m.

(Y/N), can I call you?

1:47 p.m.

I wanted to apologize. Thank you for taking care of me last night.

Monday

2:26 p.m.

My mum got a call from the insurance company. Apparently there was a small clerical error, and she's now approved. They said a woman came to the office and pointed out the mistake. I know it was you. I'm sorry for everything. I don't deserve your kindness.

Swiping the messages away, you put your phone back down to go to sleep.

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Jonah's POV

"Has she responded?"

I looked up from my phone.

"No. She has an Android so I can't see if she's read the messages, but I'm sure she has," I sighed, plopping my phone down on the table.

I sipped my coffee. I'm a fucking idiot. (Y/N) is probably better off without me, anyway.

"You hurt her feelings. She needs a little time is all," mom reached across to pat my hand.

"I don't know. She has enough going on in her life. I'm sure piling onto her stress load won't make her come running back to me."

Mom sighed.

"You're right, but she's a strong one. She'll come back around."

I let out an exasperated grunt.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I'm confident that you'll do whatever it takes," she shrugged like it was obvious.

"What if she doesn't want me back?"

This feeling was gnawing at me. What if I ruined my only chance?

It was mom's turn to be exasperated. She squeezed my hand.

"Listen to me, sweetheart. That woman is a once in a lifetime occurrence. You won't find another like her, no matter where you look, or how hard you try. If you don't put in the effort now to get her back, you'll regret it."

Mom paused, letting me absorb her sentiment for a moment. Her voice trembled with her next words.

"Please, for my sake, don't be so worried about my life that you stop living yours."

My eyes reconnected with hers. Seeing her sad expression, her words truly sunk into the recesses of my mind.

[bluenet13]

I Swear That I Am Up to No Good

Tim and Lucy celebrate four milestones one prank at a time.

Read on AO3

Tim is still smiling when he walks back to the station covered in baby powder. He takes the corner quickly trying to get to the men's locker without running into any of his coworkers. But as the universe will have it, he's not that lucky and from all the possibilities, of course, he runs into Angela.

"Bradford, what the hell happened?" Angela yelps, glaring at the baby powder that got on her clothes when they almost collided.

Tim runs a hand through his hand in pre-exasperation and huffs a simple, "Lucy."

Angela's grin gets impossibly wider, and Tim wishes he had chosen to clean up at home instead.

"She got you with your own trick?" Angela asks knowingly, unable to keep her amusement from her tone.

Tim nods, and levels her with a stern glare, but he should have known that never works with his best friend.

"I knew there was a reason I liked her," Angela says proudly, fixing Tim with a smug look. "So, are you already planning your revenge, or will you give her a pass as a graduation gift?"

"If this wasn't the second time she's gotten me in a row, I might consider it," Tim declares, a sly grin playing at the corners of his mouth. "But I can't afford to get complacent. I need to keep her on her toes."

Angela chuckles, knowing all too well the playful rivalry between Tim and Lucy, and more than suspecting what it might be hiding. "What are you gonna do? Pull at her ponytails or hide her juice box?"

"Ha-ha." Tim mocks, trying to get past Angela but she moves a step and blocks his way again.

"What was her other prank anyway? I didn't hear anything about it," Angela questions, used to finding one or the other moping at the station each time they're on the receiving end of one of their pranks.

Tim's face falls as he remembers Lucy's fake love confessing and the way his heart had jolted at her words for reasons unknown, and he instantly realizes his mistake as Angela's interest is piqued. "Nothing. It was a dumb prank," he tries, glaring at her but he looks too spooked for it to be effective.

"You're hiding things from me, Timothy, and I don't like it," Angela says, waiting him out for a beat before continuing, "But you get a pass today. I gotta go get ready to meet Jackson and Lucy at the bar."

"You're meeting West and Chen up for drinks?" Tim asks, trying to sound nonchalant but failing spectacularly.

Angela nods and looks at him questionably. "What, they didn't invite you? I'm sure they won't mind if we show up together."

Tim shakes his head and squares his shoulder. "I don't want to go get drinks with the rookies. They're insufferable enough as it is but I bet they will be even more extra tonight."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Tim," Angela says placatingly, patting him on the shoulder as she steps away.

Tim takes a moment to think his idea through before he rushes behind Angela. "Hey, wait up. Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything," Angela says immediately, even as he eyes him warily.

"Chen and West usually do karaoke while at the bar, right?" He inquires with faux innocence.

"Ye-es," Angela agrees doubtfully, not wanting to get involved in whatever evil idea Tim is concocting.

Tim smiles gleefully, getting closer to Angela as if half-expecting Lucy to be hiding behind a desk, listening to their conversation. "Can you get close to the stage and record her?"

Angela is intrigued but also reluctant to get involved, but it's Tim so, of course, she agrees. "Okay. But if anyone asks, it wasn't me."

"Deal," Tim says with a wicked grin. "Thanks, Ange."

"Right." Angela clicks her tongue and waves goodbye, leaving Tim alone in the hallway.

As expected, Angela comes through and that night Tim's phone pings with a text message. He opens it and immediately bursts out laughing when the audio file starts playing. And it's unfortunate for everybody how Kojo is the only one privy to just how fond his face looks as he listens.

Tim forgets all about the baby powder prank and his revenge until three weeks later when Kojo's sitter calls in the middle of roll call. Lucy's tipsy voice fills the room as Tim rushes to shut it off.

He fumbles with his pocket and then his phone, almost dropping it a few times, but mercifully succeeds in quieting it before Lucy starts the second verse.

"Sorry, sorry. That was K-Kojo's sitter. She knows not to call unless it's an emergency," Tim splutters. He bites his lip uncharacteristically, looking down to hide his blush.

"Was that Lucy?" Nolan wonders, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room after the initial bout of widespread laughter and clapping.

Tim runs his hand down his face and wishes the Earth would break and swallow him whole.

"I'm sure I'm not only talking for Nolan when I say we're all eagerly waiting for an answer," Commander Grey prompts, looking expectantly at Tim.

"Y-yes," Tim eventually says, looking up for the first time and wishing he hadn't. Lucy is bright red and looking more than a little bit murderously directly at him. And the rest of the room is looking between them with a mixture of amusement, second-hand embarrassment, and evil delight. "Can we go back to work?" He tries before anyone asks more questions. "Please."

"I'm sure you'd like that, Sergeant Bradford," Commander Grey agrees, taking obvious pity on him, finishing his speech quickly and sending everyone on their way.

"Thank you," Tim mouths to his boss, making a quick exit as soon as they're all dismissed.

He's almost in the clear when Lucy's voice calls from behind, "Not so fast, Bradford."

Tim sighs and reluctantly turns around, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Yes?"

"What the hell was that?" Lucy shrieks, swatting at his shoulder.

"It was supposed to be a response to your stupid baby powder prank! I only set it as your ringtone, Angela's and anything related to Kojo since neither was supposed to call while on shift," Tim shout-whispers, appalled at his own stupidity. "I didn't mean for it to cause such chaos. My phone is usually on silent but Kojo was sick last night and I wanted to be reachable since the sitter was taking him to the vet today."

Lucy's anger softens into a mix of understanding and concern. "Wait, what happened to Kojo? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he should be. She sent a text, I think." Tim grabs his phone and reads, showing it to Lucy with a relieved smile upon seeing the good news that their dog is okay and it was something he ate on their walk.

"Phew, alright. You're off the hook because you were worried about Kojo," Lucy says, bumping his shoulder again for good measure. "But next time let's make sure the pranks are a little less public."

Tim chuckles and nods. "I'll make sure to change it to just your ringtone now."

Lucy shakes her head and glares at him. "I don't think that should be the lesson from this experience," she hisses.

Tim raises an eyebrow, a mischievous glint returning to his eyes. "Oh, come on, Chen. Where's the fun in that? Besides, more than half of our pranks happen while on shift."

Lucy sighs, unable to hide her smile, full well knowing she can't disagree with that. They wouldn't be them if they didn't prank each other even if it sometimes carried some risk. "Alright, but no more office-wide chaos."

Tim seems to think about it until he eventually nods. "Ground rules are no fun, but okay. I will do my best not to disrupt the whole precinct again."

Lucy shakes her head in exasperation but reaches forward to take Tim's offered hand, sealing their agreement.

They walk away, side by side, their laughter echoing through the halls of the station. Despite the occasional mishap, Tim and Lucy know their antics are an integral part of their relationship, and neither is willing to give that up.

-x-x-x-

Tim steps into his new office at Metro for the first time, still giddy from the morning with Lucy and his heart bursting with pride as he takes in his nameplate on the door. But as he approaches his desk, he notices something peculiar and his smile turns into a frown.

All the personal pictures he carefully placed on his desk and around the office the night before have been replaced and he blinks in confusion before bursting into laughter. Instead of a picture of him with his Military buddies, there's a snapshot of Smitty and his bowling team. A tipsy Angela and Lucy grin at him from another picture, his girlfriend and best friend making funny faces at the camera. A stark contrast to the picture of his nephews it had replaced. As his eyes move to the other pictures, Tim notices Nolan where his picture in uniform had been, a candid photo of Gerald the Goat instead of Kojo, and picture of the Fire Department Banquet instead of Mid-Wilshire's own celebration.

Finishing his exploration of the whimsical images, Tim finally sits down, looking in his drawers for the original pictures but coming up empty. His amusement quickly turns to annoyance as his eyes land on the pile of documents he should be reading to get acquainted with Metro procedure and up to speed with their cases, but then he hears a familiar giggle coming from outside the door, and his irritation melts away instantly.

"I should have known you were responsible for this," Tim says, glaring at his girlfriend when he opens the door, even as his voice is filled with affection. He can never stay mad at her for long. One look at those eyes and he's always a goner.

Lucy's eyes sparkle with mischief as she steps inside Tim's office. She grins at him and nods, looking so proud of herself. "Guilty as charged. I wanted to celebrate your promotion in a fun way."

"The baby booties weren't enough?" Tim groans and reaches forward, pulling Lucy to him.

Lucy can't contain her laughter and only Tim's kiss manages to silence her, but not for long. "I knew you might wake up before me and ruin the surprise. So I had a back up."

"Right, a backup." Tim sighs but ends up smiling softly when he takes in the little makeover of his new space. "Should I be worried about a second back up? Is a baby powder bomb gonna explode on me as soon as I get into the shop?"

Lucy's disappointment is evident at the missed opportunity as she shakes her head. "Not today, baby."

"Then I guess I should be thankful." Tim shrugs, knowing that when it comes to their pranks, it can always be worse.

Lucy steps closer and wraps her arms around him, raising on her tiptoes to whisper closely, "I wanted to show you how proud I am of you. You deserve every bit of this success and I wanted to make your first day a memorable one."

Tim hugs her tightly back, feeling grateful for her presence in his life and incredibly lucky to have someone who cares so much about him to go the extra mile to make him smile. "Thank you, Luce. You sure know how to make every moment special."

"I try," Lucy says shily, burying her face in his shirt and breathing him in deeply. "And don't worry, all your real pictures are safe and we can replace them back before we go home tonight."

"There's space for all of them," Tim offers, his tone a mix of amusement and mild exasperation. "Well, maybe not for Smitty's bowling league. He can have that one back."

Lucy's laughter fills the air, but Tim swiftly captures her lips with another kiss.

And as they stand there, surrounded by the wonderful people and memories that make their lives special, Tim can't help but laugh back. This silly prank is Lucy's way to show him she's proud, but more than that it's a testament to their bond, and a reminder that in the midst of their chaotic lives, they will always have lighthearted moments like this to show each other how much they are loved.

-x-x-x-

Tim and Lucy lace up their shoes, ready to embark on their run. Tim smiles mischievously as he gets up, and reaches behind him, handing Lucy a small gift box.

"Happy Anniversary, babe," he says softly, his blue eyes sparkling under the morning sun. "I know we said we would exchange gifts at dinner tonight, but I thought this might come in handy right now."

Curiosity piqued, Lucy opens the box to reveal a new smartwatch. She looks up at Tim, her face beaming with delight and jumps into his arms. "Oh, Tim, it's perfect. Thank you!"

"Yeah?" Tim asks shily, when they step away. "I already opened it and got it set up and synced with mine. I hope you don't mind."

Lucy frowns, surprised she didn't notice Tim wearing a new watch, but she blames it on the extracurricular activities they indulged in that morning. "It's okay," she says, leaning forward to gaze at his watch. It's gray with a dark blue strap that matches perfectly with her light blue one.

With the new smartwatches strapped on, they set up on their run, with Kojo bouncing excitedly alongside them. For the first few minutes the run goes on as expected, with Tim setting a quick, steady pace around the pond in their local park. They pass the Little Free Library on the right, and the bench with the guy lifting weights on the left, and it isn't until she almost runs into a tree that Lucy notices something is off.

As they make their way through the familiar park, Tim starts changing their usual route, taking unexpected turns here and there. Lucy almost crashes into a kid on a bicycle at some point and gets tangled in Kojo's leash at least twice.

Lucy laughs when it's Tim who almost trips after taking a sharp turn, but then she almost falls into a fountain as she struggles to keep up with the chaotic rhythm of their run. "What's going on, Tim?" She asks eventually, pulling on his hand so he slows down. They're both winded but Tim is somehow still smiling and for the life of her Lucy can't figure out why. "Did you plan a secret obstacle course for our anniversary? Is this some kind of Tim Test? Did I do something wrong?"

Tim chuckles, feigning innocence and shrugs. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I thought we could switch it up and take the scenic route instead."

Scenic? Lucy mouths, wondering if with scenic Tim means that he wants to explore the bottom of the pond, or get intimately acquainted with the trunk of the trees in the park. Still, she nods, and lets him continue to guide them in their haphazard run.

To her relief, the run ends a few minutes later and they make it back to his truck in one piece. They're all breathing hard, even Kojo needing to stop to catch his breath, and Lucy's thankful they had decided to skip breakfast that morning.

As they return home, Tim gestures towards his laptop on the living room table before heading into the kitchen. "Hey, while I get started on breakfast, why don't you check how our run went? The new app should show us a map and some cool stats."

Intrigued, Lucy logs in to Tim's profile and her brows furrow as the tracking app automatically opens. She loads the map, and her eyes widen in disbelief as she takes in what is being displayed. "T-Tim?" She stammers, trying to raise her voice so it reaches him in the kitchen despite her breath being stuck in her throat.

Tim appears beside her, making her jump, and she turns to face him, then back to the map. The screen showcases a winding line that spells out the words 'marry me?' in bold letters, mirroring the messy yet now memorable path they took during their run.

Lucy turns to Tim again, her heart racing, as realization dawns upon her. Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears, and her voice trembles as she asks, "Tim… is this…?"

Tim chuckles, a warmth in his eyes that matches the love in his voice. Instead of responding, he gracefully drops to one knee, and Lucy's hand instinctively flies to cover her mouth, feeling as if she's been transported into the middle of one of her favorite rom-coms.

"Lucy Chen," Tim begins, his voice filled with genuine emotion, causing tears to stream down Lucy's cheeks. "From the moment I met you, you've changed my life for the better in so many fucking ways. I was a little bit broken when we met, but with your smiles, quick wit, and incredible heart, you managed to put me back together so that I could feel I was deserving of your love… of your loyalty… of you. You make every day brighter, and I can only hope I bring into your life even a fraction of what you bring into mine. I'm the happiest when I'm with you and I can't imagine my life without you, baby. Will you marry me?"

Tears well up in Tim's eyes now as he looks up to Lucy and prepares to wait expectantly. But Lucy's response is immediate. She nods enthusiastically and launches herself into his arms. "Yes, fucking yes! A thousand times, yes!"

The ring box Tim had been holding slips from his hands as he embraces Lucy, their kisses overflowing with promises of love, joy, and the joint future they have both always deserved, but never believed they could have.

When they finally break for air, Tim retrieves the ring and gently slides it onto the fourth finger of Lucy's left hand. The delicate band, adorned with small diamonds and moonstones set in rose gold, perfectly symbolizes their love—simple, yet full of brilliance, and inconspicuous enough that it can be worn to work every day.

"Do you like it?" Tim whispers, and it's only then that Lucy realizes she's been completely enthralled, staring at the ring for who knows how long.

She nods and leans forward, pressing her lips against his. "It's perfect, just like you," she breathes, savoring each word against his mouth.

Eventually, they break apart to continue celebrating, but the taste of each other lingers. Their love intermingled, as they revel in the joy and certainty of a forever filled with pranks, love and laughter that's bound to be nothing short of extraordinary.

-x-x-x-

Tim and Lucy settle down for a cozy game night, ready to dive into a round of Monopoly. The game isn't their usual choice but Lucy had insisted and Tim was more than happy to indulge her.

Lucy has an impish look about her as she pulls out a custom-made Monopoly she had ordered from Etsy. "Look what I found, babe!" She exclaims, excitement evident in her voice. "I thought it would be a fun change to try a personalized game tonight."

Tim raises an eyebrow. "Personalized? How so?"

"Well, I found this Etsy seller that's all about creating personalized versions of famous board games. So she created a custom board and Chance and Community Chest cards that are all about us and our lives." Lucy beams as she explains, revealing the intricately designed cards and familiar locations on the board.

"O-kay," Tim agrees slowly, equally intrigued and apprehensive.

The game starts predictably enough, with the only indication that it is a different version, the fact that Tim is able to buy the 'North Hollywood Police Station' and Lucy buys Angela and Wesley's street. Tim then gets a Community Chest card that gives him $100 because he won the betting pool at the precinct and Lucy has to pay $50 to a charity for rescue dogs.

It isn't until they have been playing for a while that Tim notices the strangely specific nature of some of the cards he keeps receiving. This one tells him to pay $50 for a last-minute nanny replacement, and he frowns but pays anyway. On its own, the card is innocent enough, but then he gets a card that says "your baby ran out of diapers and in your rush to get to the store the cops stop you, go to jail." He goes to jail but now his spidey senses are tingling.

He asks Lucy about it but she shrugs and says that it's probably because she mentioned having friends with kids when placing the order for the custom Monopoly so the creator chose to include some things related to that.

Tim accepts her answer reluctantly. But then Lucy gets a Chance card that sends her to the preschool that they suspiciously pass every morning on the way to work and he glances up, unable to ignore his suspicions anymore. "Lucy, what's going on? These cards seem oddly tailored to our lives. And it's not because Angela and Harper have kids."

Lucy's been grinning ever since the game began, her smile widening ever since Tim got the first strange card. But now, her eyes are twinkling with excitement and something else that Tim can't name as she explains, "Those cards are a clue to something else. Do you want to know now or do you want to keep playing?"

Tim's heart skips a beat as he looks at Lucy, anticipation and nervousness intertwining in his chest. His girlfriend looks positively radiant and now that he really sees her he notices a new glow to her already bright persona. "What is it?" Tim asks, his voice shaking slightly. He has an inclination about what this is about but he needs her to spell it to him out loud.

Lucy's grin turns devious as she reaches into her pocket and hands Tim a card that reads, "Congratulations! You're going to be a parent. Advance to 'Parenthood Avenue' and start building your family!"

Tim's eyes widen, and a wave of emotion rushes through him. He blinks back tears as the dream that always felt just this side of attainable is suddenly staring back at him. He opens his mouth to speak, but is unable to find the words.

Releasing the card from his shaking fingers, Lucy sets his hand over her still flat belly and settles her head over his chest. "Tim, we're going to have a baby. We're going to be parents." Her voice trembles with excitement as she murmurs the words against his shirt, and her own tears start falling when she feels his tears on her skin.

He kisses her cheek and forehead, then gently pushes her back and leans down to kiss her belly. "God, Lucy. This is the best prank… the best surprise, the best news ever! I can't believe we're going to be parents."

"Are you happy?" Lucy asks, bashfully. She stares directly into Tim's beautiful eyes and wishes their baby girl or boy gets blue eyes like his.

Blue gazes into brown as Tim's thoughts mirror the sentiment, desiring not just one but two sets of his beloved brown eyes to meet every day. "Happy doesn't even begin to describe it, Luce. This is everything I've ever wanted," he says softly, taking her hand in his and kissing the two rings on the fourth finger of her left hand.

A beaming smile spreads across Lucy's face as she leans in, her forehead resting against Tim's. "I've never been happier, Tim. And it's all thanks to you."

Tim brushes a strand of hair behind Lucy's ear, and stares pensively up ahead. "You know, I can already see our little one running around, causing mayhem, just like his parents, and playing pranks on us and his or her uncles and aunts every chance they get."

Lucy chuckles and nods, because they will for sure inherit their mischievous spirit. "Good thing we have years of experience to keep up with them."

"Can't wait," Tim muses, ready for 9 months and a lifetime more of that spark that makes their lives special.

[fandomsfunyeah]

Obey Me! Fanfiction Havoc Levi x Mc

Levi tries to figure out how to confess his love,things don't go as planned

It was late at night and the house of Lamentation was quiet...except for the sounds of a lone individual typing away on a computer.

The games music and chatting players rang through his headphones as Levi sighed,glancing at the clock,it was late,way too late and he should really go to bed right now. Even if it was a Saturday.

He'd had too many night time gaming sessions in a row and it was catching up.

At least it wasn't his turn to make breakfast,wait...it was Mc's turn today right?

The thought of getting up for that makes him shut the game off and crawl in bed.

Maybe if he can get alone time with them in morning he can finally tell them how much he cares for them.

Morning came and Levi sluggishly moves to dress himself and leave for the kitchen.

He yawned. Not nearly enough recharge he thinks.

Beel was already waiting at the table,surprisingly he was the second person here this morning.

He walked up to his younger brother.

"Is Mc up?"

"Yep. They're making Human realm pancakes,can you smell it?" Beel replied. He was drooling a bit.

Levi moved into the kitchen. The smell of honey and syrup fill the air as Mc was stirring and pouring batter into a pan,a sizable stack of pancakes already on a tray.

They must have been up a while.

Mc turns around. "Levi? You're up early today."

They smile at him brightly and he feels his heart beat faster.

"Um...Good morning Mc."

Mc hums and continued working,a couple minutes pass and Levi was still watching them.

"Do you want a plate to take back?" They ask him.

"Yes please." He says quickly.

They fix a plate,while he moved a little closer to them.

"Mc....um I was wondering..Do you...L-like" He cuts himself off last second.

"Sorry what was that Levi?" They ask as they turn around with the plate.

"Never mind it wasn't important." He avoids their gaze.

"Okay?" They say,confused as he quickly snatched it and leaves to go back to his room.

He closed the door with a sigh and looked toward his monitors.

The room was messy,various merchandise boxes and snack wrappers littered the floor,along with dirty clothing.

He really should clean up in here...it was a hazard to even walk around safely at this point.

Levi maneuvered around the clutter and sat down in his game chair with a thud,plugging his headphones in.

He entered the video chat with his online Devildom friends,forking bites of fluffy pancake in his mouth as he did so.

Hey he's back

Ohh how did that irl love confession go?

Are humans really that attractive?

Idk but it's that one at RAD half the school goes on about yeah?

The questions and comments pour in.

No it was a major fail

You backed out didn't you? One person asked.

Yeah

Why?

He sighed before replying.

Irl love is too hard I can't pause and restart over if I mess up

Come on if this human friend of yours is so amazing like you say then you gotta do something before someone else picks them up

Levi pauses. They weren't wrong but what to do?

If he was going to "win" this route he needed to come up with a idea before one of his brothers or some random normie takes them away.

He was lost in thought and didn't hear the door opening,Mc had come to check on him after breakfast ended.

"Levi are you doing okay? You ran off suddenly and I.."

They're cut off by slipping on a piece of clothing in the darkened room and go crashing down on the floor with a yelp knocking over a stack of fortunately empty,Akuzon boxes in the process.

The loud crash startled Levi and chat,he whipped around, accidentally pulling the headphone cord out.

"MC?!" He yelled,alarmed as he sees them stick their head out of the pile.

Oh this was bad,he flipped on the big lights and ran over to them.

They sit up slowly with a groan.

"Ouch...going to feel that one in the morning for sure."

"A-Are you okay Mc?!" Levi hovered around them worried and panicked. Humans can get hurt so easily.

"Don't recommend belly flopping the floor." They laugh,to Levi's relief they seem to be fine,barring a couple bruises.

The incident happened in full camera view,the video chat exploded.

Oh is that them?

You know I've never actually seen one before

I can see the appeal now

Moe level 100

Is that your hot human friend Levi?

The third born was mortified as he realizes the cord was unplugged and Mc heard everything.

The human peeked at the screen,pulling themself up as the chat continued to gush over them.

"Hello?" Mc tilted their head.

They even sound adorable

What beautiful eyes they have

Maybe I should find a human lover

Such a cute pose

You know Leviathan goes on and on about how awesome you are

"Does he?" Mc asks curiously. "What else does he say?"

Oh no,he was not dying of embarrassment today.

Levi quickly moved over Mc and hit the mute button before anyone else can reveal more details.

"Aw I wanted to hear more." They pout and his cheeks burn,why did they have to uncover all the secret thoughts he had?

It happened too often for his liking.

"Mc you need to leave now,right now! He blurted out before he clasped a hand over his mouth in shock. He didn't mean to sound angry.

"Is something wrong?" They ask concerned.

"I-I'm sorry Mc..." Levi looks at the floor timidly.

"I need...need to clean up my room,okay? Can you come back later?"

Mc looked around the area,it was long overdue for a cleaning.

"I can help you.."

"Nonono It's fine Mc you go recover your HP I'll take care of it."

Levi shoos them away.

He glared at the chat as soon as they were gone.

"Really guys? Not Cool."

Well do you have a plan to win them over?

Not yet

Why not write down some ideas?

Wait that could work

He says goodbye and started typing up a script of sorts.

Many scenarios,dates and how he would talk to them are paged and how he hopes they'd respond to them.

He sighed...hearts were practically in his eyes.

Writing a sweet love story about him and Mc...he can see it now.

He takes them to a cafe and feeds them dessert like romantic couples do and then they go up on a high hill overlooking the whole Devildom...the moon is full and illuminating the whole place..

Mc is the one who's shy and flustered...as he pulls them close in a tight hug and leans in to kiss them softly after a passionate confession they accept from him.

"Then we go back to my room,snuggle in a blanket and play games together." He says out loud.

Levi paused his typing...Henry 2.0 had swam over to him,the goldfish was blooping in the green glow of the tank.

"Don't judge me Henry,this is every otaku's perfect dream date."

Then Mc knocked on the door and entered surprising him.

"Did you make any progress?"

Mc paused and looked over the room. "It looks the same."

"Ahh....Mc why are you back it hasn't been long enough to clean anything?!"

"It's been three hours Levi."

He glanced at the clock,he'd been writing that long?

"W-Well it's umm..heh..."

Mc frowned and Levi gulps as he hears the lock click.

"Okay...you've been acting weird all morning and I'm not leaving until I find out why." They walk toward him and Levi blocks the monitor screen with his body,leaning against it.

He can't let Mc see what he wrote,it was too embarrassing.

"What are you even doing in here?"

Levi huffs. "I can't tell you that Mc,otaku secrets aren't meant to be seen by normie eyes."

Mc frowns again,moving in front of him while he tried to look stern,they lean in and whisper next to his ear.

"Are you absolutely sure about that Leviathan?"

He tenses,pupils widening from the sound of his full name.

Mc wasn't going to let up were they?

They look him directly in the eyes and suddenly their lips are inches from his,he feels his face heat up.

Is Mc doing what he thinks they are? He closed his eyes and tried to prepare himself mentally for a kiss.

But that turned out to be a ploy to drop his guard.

Mc quickly slipped their hands in his opened jacket and gently flutter their fingers into his underarms.

"Eeeek?!" Levi's eyes open in shock as he looks down to see Mc grinning mischievously.

He twisted and wiggled,clamping his arms down,trying to shake them off.

"Are you going to let me see it now Leviachan?~" They tease.

He blushes furiously.

"Heehehha...heeek....Nonope...Hahahee...MMph! Th-This is cheating Mc!"

Levi was being stubborn even as tears started running down his face and he couldn't speak from laughing so hard.

"I-I'm not going to...Hahaeeh!"

"You know you can't last much longer Levi."

They move down squeezing the softest part of his stomach and he falls to the floor,trying to curl up in a ball laughing hysterically.

Mc crawls on top of him,still squeezing ever so gently as he continued to cry and scream in laughter.

"Now?"

Levi shakes his head no through the tears.

Mc glares...he feels a shiver run up his spine.

Then they pull up his shirt and softly nibble and blow raspberries on his stomach.

He finally can't take it anymore.

"AHHAck...Okay okay....Please....I surrender..Mc just s-stop..."

They do and he's sweating and gasping for air laying motionless under the desk.

"Are you okay?" They ask concerned.

"Y-yes..." He managed to say.

Mc looks at the screen and Levi covers his face when he hears them laughing.

It was all over now,no more game nights and anime talks.

"So...when do you want to go out then?"

"Huh?" He peeks through a hand.

Mc was smiling affectionately.

"You really are a massive otaku Levi,of course I'll go on a date with you."

"Really you mean it Mc?"

They sit on the floor and hug him,he snuggles into them contently.

Everything was perfect...but before they go out.

Mc is stunned when Levi suddenly transforms and wraps his tail around their body,pinning them to the floor.

Levi smirks and Mc feels a sweatdrop fall as he leans over them with a mischievous gleam in his bright orange eyes.

"Mc...It's my turn to play now,don't you think so?~" He coos in their ear,gently brushing his fingers and tail tip over their helpless form as they giggle nervously.

Their laughter and begging echoed into the hallway as Levi teased them until they were breathless and flustered like he was earlier.

[m4tthewmurd0ck]

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀, 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐀 ~ 𝙴𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝙼𝚞𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚡 (𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎) 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛     [PREVIEW]

here’s a lil sneak peek of something i’ve been working on :) this is me puttin on my fix it hat, and giving eddie the ending that he deserved. so, this obviously contains spoilers for season 4. this is NOT the full piece, we all know i have no self control when it comes to writing so the actual thing is long as fuck and i hope to have it up soon! this is just the beginning, aka the beginning of your friendship turned relationship with eddie. below the cut, enjoy!

You met on the first day of the school year. Being a new student, word had somehow gotten around that you transferred schools because you failed senior year at your last one. And while that was true, there was a lot more to it than just some bad grades. But you didn’t like to talk about that.

Second class of the day, you slid into a seat in the back row. A boy and a few of his friends walked in, and he loudly ‘whispered’ that everyone should avoid the new girl or the stupid might rub off on them. He even had the nerve to smirk as he spoke, as if he genuinely thought that was such a clever line.

After class, you walked out to find him waiting for you. He looked you up and down, then asked what your name was.

Is this guy fucking serious? You rolled your eyes and kept walking.

“Hey what’s your problem freak?”

Without missing a beat, you turned around and smiled. “I’d rather be a freak than a loser who seems to get joy from being an asshole. I’m gonna go now, but you have the day you deserve.”

Eddie was just down the hall, and he paused when he heard your response. He had never heard someone else refer to themselves as a freak when standing up to someone before. From that moment, he knew he wanted to be your friend. And luck was on his side, because you just so happened to have 3 classes together.

One day at lunch, Mike and Dustin broke the news that Lucas wouldn’t be able to make it to Hellfire due to his ‘balls in laundry baskets’ game. After asking them if he heard them correctly, were they really asking to postpone the campaign rather than find a substitute? They both gulped, shared a single glance, and then said they’d find someone.

After school that day, Mike ran next door to your house. He begged you to come and substitute for one of his friends for a campaign that was in just a few hours. You stood there, arms crossed, wondering how the hell he knew you sometimes played. When you asked him, he said when he noticed someone moving in next door he’d come outside and watched the movers help your family unload boxes. And he immediately noticed the Players Handbook sticking out of a box. Since he didn’t see any other people your age or younger moving in, he assumed that you were an only child and that the book was yours.

You admitted that it was, but you hadn’t actually played in a while. Years ago a kid that used to live next door to you begged you to let him and his friends teach you how to play. Someone in the friend group had moved away, and they were in dire need of someone to take his spot. They actually paid you $20 to let them teach you, and you got pretty good if you did say so yourself (and you did). The book had been a gift when him and his friends found out you were moving. You still flipped through it every once in a while, but said you weren’t sure how it would go. Dustin ran up to you both just then, out of breath as he tried to ask Mike if he asked yet.

“He has, and—”

“Please! I will do anything. I will literally do anything. You’re a senior right? I’ll find a way to do your homework. I’ll wash your car or walk your dog or—”

You cut him off just then, laughing as you said that they were lucky you didn’t have any plans that night.

When you walked in behind them wearing an extra Hellfire Club shirt, Eddie’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

So not only were you the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, and not only did you not seem to mind being called a freak, but you played Dungeons & Dragons too? God, Eddie was ready to get down on one knee and propose to you right there.

It didn’t take long for you to become good friends. And it didn’t take long for Eddie to admit to himself that he maaay have had a crush on you.

[mccoys-killer-queen]

Seeing Kix in concert (PART ONE)

At my normal venue (this was rescheduled from August bc their drummer had covid at the last second) and I was arranged to photograph the event for my portfolio

I had to wait for a table at the venue restaurant so I figured hey I might as well put my chair up bc I BROUGHT A CHAIR THIS TIME so I claimed my spot and doodled a lil before going up for lunch

two other people were in the VIP line at the time so they were watching my seat

everyone in the bar was watching the Phillies game and for once in their lives they were winning so everyone kept randomly shouting in unison and scaring the shit out of me every time without fail

when I came back down to the line after lunch, Cherry was there again with her bf who she doesn't like

she elaborated once he was gone somewhere that she "needs a rockstar" and that the night before at the Skid Row concert someone asked if she was married and she said "no I'm single" with her bf next to her so EEEEEEEETHEYFINNABREAKUP

Cherry also iNSISTED I join them in the VIP line (because she's allowed to bring in guests) so I could come in early

the same box office bitch who let me in 10 minutes early for LA Guns bc of my photo pass told me that the pass doesn't let you get in early so what the fuck were you doing then?

the female gen x-ers with their beer in line calling me special bc of my pass

immediately after I got scanned by security one of these ladies says to the guard "did you see her? she's special :)" in all seriousness

my spot was essentially front and center and the exact same spot i was in exactly a week ago

they were selling patches at the merch stand I got one I'm so happy :DD

so when the show got postponed in August was already AT the venue that afternoon bc it was THAT last minute so I went upstairs and sulked at the bar essentially and my same bartender was downstairs and he remembered me sroginstogintrshrth

it just so happens that the only other photographer in the crowd was standing right next to me LMAOOO

turns out she also follows my insta page???? I was like H O W and she def made me feel like a fraud bc I know nothing about cameras I just wing everything I do and ppl like it i guess

the venue manager calling himself the opening act bc there was no opening act

bro. bro. when Steve McFuckingMcWhiteman came out I knew it was over for me. this mf comes out in a bright red sequin jacket and a bright red waistcoat and a bright red button-up and- and,,, I was like "uh oh" bc I was nOT EXPECTING HIM TO BE SO SHINY

a fellow photographer friend warned me months ago about Steve moving too much and being hard to capture and o h. m y g o d. she was,,, far too right about that.

Steve dances like Luke Spiller yet hE'S 66????????????

Steve is also so SMALL??? LIKE HE'S A VERY SMOL SKINNY PETITE MAN I FEEL LIKE IF I BLEW ON HIM HE'D BLOW AWAY ALSO HE'S GOT THEE TINIEST, CUTEST LITTLE BUTT????? HOLY SHIT I NEVER GOT TIRED OF HIM SHAKING IT OR GYRATING

this whole post is gonna be me ranting about Steve I'm not sorry I've got a thing for old dorky long blonde haired frontmen and I've got it bad

His pants had a zipper that went all the way down his crotch and up his ass

every 3.2 seconds he'd be winking or wiggling his eyebrows at the crowd and I could not take ittttterwftgrlnbt

during No Ring Around Rosie- "she'll shake her hips and make a blind man blush" *shakes hips real fast* me: 8#| **OH NO HE'S HOTTTTT**

I was right in front of Mark and so was the photographer next to me and I felt like we were both pointing guns at him like 8D "remember us?"

after the opening songs Steve said how he had to fix his belt

Steve: 🎶"Stevie's pants are falling down, falling down, falling down- and now I need to buy a new belt"🎶

THEY WERE PROBABLY FALLING DOWN BC HE'S SO FUCKING S M A L L I WANNA PUT HIM IN MY PURSE AND TAKE HIM HOME WITH ME WINERIOEGNOENGW

he then proceeded to go "I need to fix my pants" and fucking smirked and unzipped his crotch and tried to put the microphone in there I hate him so much

"if I zipped any further you'd just see my buttcrack- which isn't a lot it's about this big" *holds fingers maybe 5 inches apart*

Steve telling the crowd how they had to "reschedule the date because I had the shits." *proceeds to make D I R E C T eye contact with me while standing right in front of me*

in school they don't teach you How To Properly React When The Cute Singer Of The Famous Band You're Seeing Makes Direct Eye Contact With You In The Crowd And Tells You He Had The Shits so I just kinda mouthed "oh no" at him

"That doesn't mix well with rock and roll bc when you're jumping around it just-"

at the end of the show he said "hopefully I don't have the shits next time"

In the parking lot after the show Steve said "I was just kidding about the shits, you know" (yes, I knew that, but way to take the heat for Jimmy, Steve)

Steve was picking on so many people in the crowd I was in tears from laughing so hard

he was picking on the grouchy old lady front and center on her phone and was like "pUt yOUr DaMN pHOne AwAy- pEOpLe ON thEiR GOddAMn phOnes"

he was also picking on people who were wearing band shirts that weren't of Kix- "Guns N Roses, fuck em' they're not here, Tesla, fuck em' they're not here, KISS, fuck em' they're not here-"

he kept trying to get the boyfriend of the girl next to me to smile and again I was fucking crying

there was a guy in another band shirt who he referred to as "the guy in the Dingbat shirt" and this guy was basically a legend during the show

Steve reaching out to someone in the crowd who was reaching out to him saying "what do you want- to shake my hand or touch my balls- if you can't do both you don't get either"

someone in the back of the crowd going "WHERE'S RONNIE" and Steve going- *drinks water* *swallows water* "SHUT UP <3"

ALL THINGS ASIDE THEY SOUNDED SOOOOOOO GOOD like especially Cold Shower bc hrhrggrrgrhhhhhhhh low register at the end

(at the end of every song) Steve: tHANK YOU crowd, in unison: YOU'RE WELCOME

Steve coming out in the Girl Money glasses:

Steve and Mark trying to do the whistling at the end of Girl Money and giving up

Steve making the sections of the crowd compete by singing The Itch

Steve's dumb little shuffling of his feet taking him across the stage

he introduced Wheels in Motion by saying it's off the Rock Your Face Off album and when I went WOOO he was standing right in front of me and pointed at me and said "you like that?" and I went YEAH????

I did blow him a kiss at one point and he mouthed something at me but I couldn't tell what it was ughhhhh it was probably thank you or IDK UGHHHHHHHHH

as the show went on another layer would come off of him and HE CAME OUT FOR COLD BLOOD WITH ONLY THE BUTTON UP LEFT ON AND HE HAD IT UNBUTTONED AND PARTY NIPPLE WAS O U T I WAS SCREAMING

Steve making the guys and the girls do harmonies in Cold Blood

"okay now just all the good lookin girls"

"OKAY NOW ALL THE GUYS WITH BIG DICKS-"

"okay now all the guys with the really SMALL DICKS- *they sing* there's always someone, thank you"

before closing with Blow My Fuse, Steve made the announcement that "we don't do encores,,, we think it's stupid to pretend we're walking offstage stand over there with those two guys (tech guys) - who don't really like very much- for a few seconds, and then come back out and play another song- so after this one- that's IT, we're done"

I got in the photo of the band again wheheheheheheh

I got to fist bump Brian and Steve uwu

I got one of the setlists

[theninjasanctuary]

I'm somehow procrastinating so hard I can't even find time to look at Tumblr these days. Well, ok, I have tried to stay on top of chores, the urn burial went okay, I have been on a day trip to boyf's country estate that resulted in making currant juice 2 nights in a row, and have also visited friends for the first time since who even knows, and that was good. And since there have been flash sales and weekend discounts, I've bought more second-hand, 2 pairs of shoes (Adidas Originals in red suede + black suede heels) and a pair of Akris jeans from momox and carou (yes, after running out of things to crave on momox, I had to see whether carou and maedchenflohmarkt had anything; the latter not so much, but the former has several covetable items that are too pricy to buy right away). Considering how low my funds are, this was obviously unwise, but as always, they'll go back if they don't fit. I know I should cut the f back there, but nice clothes are a source of profound joy to me, and I'm mainly hurting my own wallet, not anybody else with this. Even so, there are very few remaining gaps in my wardrobe, literally and figuratively speaking, but I could use a dressy-but-unfussy jacket that's not a blazer nor a cardigan nor a bomber, and light-coloured dressy flats or low heels (can wait till next summer).

Also managed to be an adult about the washing machine suddenly becoming much more noisy than it was, had it hauled off to a certified repair shop, as the ball bearing might have failed (hopefully hasn't damaged anything else because I stopped using it). Am assuming the bill will be covered by warranty, I bought it less than 5 months ago, but am really hoping it is just the ball bearing, so it'll be fixed by Tuesday, as the laundry is piling the f up. Otherwise, it might take another week.

Not in the mood to work. But might have identified a driving school to consider (haven't signed up since I don't know my autumn schedule yet). I think I need to go just to feel like a bit less of a loser, and while I can afford it (ofc the shit review made me think I'm gonna be unemployed with no prospects again in a little over 2 years from now).

At least I'll be spectacularly dressed.

[forza55]

hangover

navigation || masterlist

teacher!cho sang-woo x f!student!reader [ smut ] minors dni !

summary ⇄ you help your teacher fix what you caused in the school bathroom.

warning/s ⚠︎ ⇄ smut, age gap, oral [male receiving]

word count ⇄ 1.1k

impatiently waiting for his students to barge in the classroom, clacking the tip of his shoe against the cold floor, constantly glancing down to his leather watch as each minute passes by. aligning pencils and stacking paper, yawning due to the little sleep accumulated.

after several minutes of attempting to keep his eyes open, enduring heavy drowsiness, the doors opened to the loud chatter and laughter of students. books enclosed on their arms as they hurriedly searched for their seats.

you had a test assigned today. not so important to say the least considering mostly everyone spent the night before drinking.

you had barged in the back door of the room, gaining a few looks from the others from the sudden loud entrance. a few buttons of your top unbuttoned. skirt hiked high up your waist making it appear shorter than it was. hair an absolute horrid mess as the pounding headache boomed in your brain from the large impact of this morning’s hangover.

your teacher stood still in his place as the only thing that moved was his growing bulge. the sight of your legs spread as your figure was slouched improperly on the desk was unsettling him. arousal evident as he made every way to make it seem less noticeable.

hands trembling while he distributed the parchment, row by row. his painful erection making him grip each table he overtakes, frequently lifting the bridge of his glasses.

we could say you most definitely knew what you were doing to him. just the thought of making the hottest professor in the school crumble in the palm of your hand made your mouth water.

“you have thirty minutes. you may start now.” he sternly states.

purposely clumsily dropping your pen just next to your chair right as your teacher was near. making him crotch down along with you, meeting eye level with your exposed cleavage. redness was visible in his face as you sent him an innocent smile and a small ‘thank you.’

“i’ll be in the bathroom for a moment.” he quickly says after he clears his throat. briskly exiting the classroom filled with thinking students. swiftly walking through the halls and into the bathroom. a deep groan emitting from his throat as he settles on the small wooden bench of the enclosed nook of the bathroom.

he proceeds to undo his belt from his waist, unhooking the button, and pulling down the zipper of his pants. was he really just about to this? he so clearly knew he was better than this, but the pain was almost unbearable. just the thought of bending you over and fucking you senseless was making him hard by the second. just then, he continued to pull out his dick off his boxers, pumping his cock, wishing that you were the one touching him right now.

how silly, isn’t it? getting off to his own student? but he didn’t care at that point, just continuing to thrust into his own hand like a foolish man.

—

getting up from your desk as a wide smirk was displayed on your face, so clearly knowing what you had to do. putting down the pen on the wooden surface facing the test paper down as to avoid your fellow classmates from copying— well, nothing really.

slamming the door behind you. proudly running down the halls directing to the bathroom. slowly stepping in the threshold of the bathroom humming a soft sing-song.

“mr. cho?” you sweetly call, your voice echoing through the bathroom walls causing him to flinch. he doesn’t dare to respond to your calling, only stiffening up in his seat as one hand is wrapped around his cock.

“hello? mr. ch— oh.” you couldn’t help but widen your eyes as you caught him in the act. the sight weakened your knees, such a slut for your own professor. he quickly tries to hide his ‘situation’ although obviously failing.

“i— sorry, i just—“ an absolute stuttering mess, probably to the verge of fainting.

you only softly smirked at his messy state.

“why so frightened?” you tease with pride, getting on your knees between his legs as you run your hands up and down his thighs.

“don’t you think I should fix what I caused, sir?” sending him an innocent smirk, riling him up even more.

“you know we can get in a large amount of trouble if we go through with this.” hardly getting the words out of his mouth whilst you pump his erect cock with your hand.

“do you really think i’d be doing this if i didn’t think this through? oh, I thought you were a lot more clever than that, sir. I'd be more than willing to take the consequences if I'd be able to get a taste of you, sir.” you boldly say with an annoyingly wide grin on your face.

your lips hastily wrapping around the tip of his shaft, a deep groan emitting from his throat. your tongue flicking it as you glance up to his features to observe his relaxed state. how he throws back his head, closes his eyes, and leaves his mouth half-open, it only makes your panties dampen more than ever.

“shit, hurry. feels so good.”

he pulls you down deeper by the grip of your hair, making the tip of his cock hit the back of your throat making you slightly gag around him. the way he groans and gently whispers your name motivates you further. your cunt aching for any slight touch causing you to rub your thighs for some friction. his length twitches inside of your mouth, alerting you he was approaching his high.

you move your head even faster, focusing on sucking on the tip even harder, and stroking your hand on the base of his cock and the parts you can no longer fit.

“fuck, i’m gonna cum.” he says with a deep tone. his cum suddenly spurting out and into the surface of your tongue. swallowing his warm orgasm down your throat as his moans makes your eyes flutter up to his face. the way he calls your name could make you cum right there and then. you pull away your mouth from his cock with a subtle pop.

getting up to straddle his hips, immediately capturing his lips, slightly surprising him. although, he continues to devour your soft lips. hands delicately holding your waist as you grip on to his shoulders. you both just breathlessly rest your foreheads against each other in silence.

comfortable silence. quietness that kept your minds running. utter regret-filled thoughts, maybe? how do you try to disregard the fact that something so wrong felt so right? how can such a toxic misdeed feel like absolute heaven? but aren’t you always addicted to what’s so wrong?

tagging: @jeonselca @edgysewerrat

[xoxo-teddybear]

Nothing But a Bet - Bakugou Katsuki- pt.2

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: Angst, Cursing, Fluff, not spell checked

Summary: Bakugou has been so broken. Nothings been the same for him but he’s been doing everything he can to get you back...but when will it be enough to win you back?

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

Pt.1 Pt.2

“Hey..Y/N it’s me...please answer your phone.”

“Hi Princess..I saw you during your training session..you did amazing like always..take care of yourself..And I love you.”

“Hi...I was wondering if you wanted to talk about this whole thing...please?”

“Teddy Bear I’m so sorry for what happened but just please let me explain everything before you make any final decisions.”

“Y/N please come back to me.”

“...I miss you.”

Bakugou sent voicemail after voicemail, text after text, and letter after letter. He tried to call you hundreds of times in the past week but they all went straight to voicemail. He tried to reach out to you through social media but you blocked him everywhere. He was lucky that you didn’t block his number. You were both hero trainees and if an emergency were to happen, you would need every resource available and Bakugou might be one of them so you had to keep his number.

Bakugou’s been so fucked for the past week. When you left him that night, he cried into your pillow. He fell asleep in your room to have some sort of comfort that night but awoke to nobody. He looked around the room and saw the previous night’s disaster date and cried some more. He even waited a few more hours in your room before he came to the conclusion that you wouldn’t return until he left. You probably hated his guts right now and Bakugou couldn’t even be mad at you. You had every right but at least let him explain everything. Please.

“Bakugou, you can’t keep doing this every night man.” The red head said. Kirishima had been walking into the common room when he found his friend on the couch again for the 7th night in a row. Bakugou’s been doing everything he can to talk to you but you’ve always brushed him off. Even so, he still waits for you to get back from training every night just in case you would break one day and allow him to speak to you. Unfortunately, that night hasn’t come yet, and Bakugou still waits to hear your voice speak to him.

“....I’m gonna get her back,” Bakugou said as he continued to stare at the door, waiting for it to open.

“But what if she doesn’t want you anymore?” Kirishima argued.

“She does!...I know she does..she left me because I did something stupid, not because she doesn’t feel anything towards me anymore.” Bakugou took a breather as he felt tears pool into his eyes once more. He shook them off before he spoke again. “..She has to still love me...I won’t be the same if she doesn’t.”

Kirishima looked towards his friend with sad eyes as he heard the slight break in his voice. His friend really hasn’t been the same since the horrible breakup and it’s been worrying him. Getting his dream girl back is the only way to fix Bakugou Katsuki.

After a few minutes, the door opens up to reveal your beauty. You walked in to find another waiting Bakugou and watched as Kirishima left as he knew what was coming. You looked at the blonde with a nonchalant face as he ran up to you.

“Y/N! Hey! ...” he never really knew what to say after that. He was always too nervous to say anything else in fear of upsetting you. You rolled your eyes at him before you attempted to walk away but he ran in-front of you to stop you from going. “Uh..do you need help with that?”

He pointed to your workout bag but you just shook your head ‘no’ as you continued to walk but before you could get far, Bakugou spun you around to speak to you again.

“Hey! Did you know..uh, there’s this great new place that opened up. I wanted to know if you want to...um..go there sometime..maybe we could talk about what happened and-“

Before he could continue you walked away again. Bakugou grew frantic as he didn’t know what to do. This would be the 7th night in a row where you just ignore him and he doesn’t know if he could go through with more disappointment tonight. He could feel himself begin to shake as his heart grew nervous. Out of fear he grabbed onto your hand before you could get away. You didn’t turn to face him but you did allow him to continue.

“Please don’t go...please talk to me and please let me explain everything. I miss you so much Teddy Bear and I lov-“

Your body stilled for a second and you ran away to your room before he could finish that sentence. You couldn’t forgive him. Not yet. You ran with tears in your eyes as you tried to shake away the thoughts filling your heard. You left behind a crying Bakugou as he watched you run away. He didn’t even try to go after you. He knew it wouldn’t make any difference. He dropped his head and sniffled as he allowed the tears to fall. He walked his way back to his dorm and cried into his own pillow when he checked the time. 9:14. It was a school night and he had to get up early tomorrow. He would have to try again the next day. And so again, with a heavy heart, he went to bed without his Teddy Bear in his arms.

—

It was morning. Another day another sad Katsuki. The blonde rose out of bed with tired bags under his eyes. He looked horrible and anyone could see that. Shit just hasn’t been the same for him. Not without her. He got up and got dressed in his school uniform and went straight to class. He just had to see you again. The more he saw you, the more chances he got at getting you back.

Bakugou didn’t really have a plan on how to get Y/N back. He just worked and tried everything he could on the spot once he saw you. Once he sat down in his seat, he awaited for your arrival. You always came in pretty early and so the second you walked in he was up on his feet.

“Y/N! Hey!”

You watched as the blonde came up to you. You looked around and noticed there were only a few students in the room. So even though this would probably hurt you in the end, you decided to drop the silent treatment.

“.....Hi..Bakugou,” you said as you both continued to stand. You gave him a quick smile before dropping it and looking everywhere but at him. Bakugou smiled at the sound of your voice and grew excited.

“..Uh- I was wondering..if you wanted to..train after school? You know like we used to?” You looked at him with a raised brow and crossed arms. Did he really think you would wanna train with him?

“It’s just- I noticed you’re reflexes have been a little off,” at that you raised both brows at him and that’s when he panicked and began rambling, “no, no, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that! You’re great! Amazing! You always are dumbass- Y/N! I meant Y/N...yeah..yeah but the point is-“

“Okay, if I say yes will you let me go to my seat?” You quickly asked.

“YES! Ehem, mm, I mean yes. Yes, I’d like that very much and I will let you..take your...your seat...” he said awkwardly but surely. You just nodded your head slowly and walked by him. Bakugou quickly and silently celebrated behind your back but stopped once you looked at him. Seeing him all excited just to hang out with you made you laugh to yourself but you quickly shut that down as you remembered who it was you were laughing at but your smile and laughter didn’t go unnoticed by the blonde. He sat down in his seat and continued to stare at you like a happy puppy.

Soon enough, more students came into the room. The bell finally rang and Aizawa walked in to let class begin. Time went by and eventually, lunch came and you can definitely guess that Bakugou, once again, tried to get you to sit with him. This time, instead of ignoring him, you simply said “no,” and kept walking.

This of course put Bakugou into a mood but he didn’t want to be stingy. You had already agreed to train with him and you always kept to your word. He was grateful but he couldn’t hide the sadness on his face.

He and the rest of the Bakusquad sat at their table and spoke amongst each other but they of course noticed their sad friend. Now everyone knew Bakugou and Y/N had broken up but only Kirishima had known why. So questions came up and Kirishima thought it would be a wise idea for Bakugou’s other friends to help.

“What’s up with McBlasty?” Sero asked, not even earning a snarl from Bakugou at the crude nickname. “Still not over the breakup?”

“It’s not a breakup!” Bakugou countered. “It’s just...a break okay?”

“Right, cuz a break involves her giving you the cold shoulder,” Mina added on. “What happened to you guys anyway? You seemed like the perfect couple.”

Bakugou cringed at her words. They were the perfect couple. And he missed his perfect girlfriend. He looked towards Kirishima to see that he was giving him the same look he always did when it came to the Bakusquad. He wanted him to tell them the truth. Bakugou sighed as he realized it was probably time for them to know.

“Y/N left me because she found out about the bet.”

Kaminari and Sero looked at each other in shock and fear. They remember exactly what happened. They were speaking on their relationship and the bet when they heard Y/N’s door slam shut. They realized she probably heard what they had said but assumed everything would be okay! They didn’t think it would cause a breakup! But who knows!? Maybe Bakugou was speaking of a different bet.

“Umm..what bet?” Kaminari asked but Bakugou only looked at him with a confused face. How could he not remember?

“The bet we made almost a year ago. The bet that ruined my perfect relationship with the love of my life. The bet that you gave me! You know? The bet where you told me to date Y/N and not fall in love with her, which I obviously failed.” Bakugou said as he straightened up at the memory. He noticed how the two idiots remained oddly silent and how they looked like they were cowering (more than usual) at the sight of him. “Why’re you acting like that?”

The boys stayed silent before Sero spoke up. “Bakugou..we have something to tell you.”

At the tall boy’s words, the whole table gave him their attention but Kaminari only looked at him with wide eyes, hinting at him to stop what he was about to do. Sero only punched Kaminari in the shoulder as the electric blonde finally gave in.

“Bakugou,” Kaminari said, “Sero and I are the reason why Y/N found out it was a bet.”

In that moment, Bakugou’s face dropped. His eyes grew wide and silence grew around the table. Bakugou’s face went from extreme shock to extreme anger. He quickly stood up and went to attack the two boys but Kirishima was quick to hold him back.

“Let go of me!!!” Bakugou screamed.

“Bakugou! You need to relax!” Kirishima realized he wouldn’t be able to hold Bakugou back himself and called for reinforcements. “Midoriya! Todoroki!”

The two boys came running and at once glance at the situation, they knew what they had to do. Midoriya and Todoroki grabbed onto Bakugou, hooking their arms under his shoulders while Kirishima stood front. The whole scene grabbed everyone’s attention, including Y/N’s.

“This is all your fault!” Bakugou screamed with slight tears in his eyes. “I lost Y/N because of you idiots! All because you couldn’t keep your mouths shut?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Bakugou said fighting against his human restraints.

“We’re sorry! We didn’t know she heard us! It’s not like we intentionally tried to ruin you two! It was an accident!” Kaminari said behind the protection of Mina.

“I DONT GIVE A FUCK! You fucking idiots ruined everything for me!” Bakugou said as his hands began to spark. He sent an explosion their way but Y/N was quick to react and get in the middle. She used her quirk to stop his explosion and everyone settled once they saw her.

“Y/N...” Bakugou whispered out as he stopped fighting. He stood still but the three boys still kept their hold on him just in case.

“It doesn’t matter how I found out or who told me Bakugou. The only thing that matters is that you and Kaminari used me as part of a bet. Do you understand that I felt like I was just a piece of a game?” Y/N explained.

“But you’re not Y/N! You’re so much more than that!” Bakugou argued.

“So then why was I even considered to be part of that bet?” You asked. The entire room grew silent as Bakugou let his tears fall. He had no answer for you. “Right.”

You picked up your bag and walked by the group, Bakugou never taking his eyes off of you. “I’ll see you in the gym later, Bakugou.” And with that, you walked off.

Bakugou shoved the 3 boys off of him as he glared at Kaminari and Sero. The boys kept their heads down as a way of apologizing to their friend but they realized they would have to do much more than that to truly make it up to their friend. As the bell rang and everyone was dismissed, Kaminari and Sero walked out together and discussed their apology plan.

—

Bakugou had skipped out on the rest of the day. He didn’t know if he would be able to hold himself back if he saw Kaminari or Sero again. He had decided he would give himself some time to cool off before he had to meet with Y/N in the gym.

At that memory he decided it was best for him to look on the bright side. He got to train with Y/N again. It would be just like old times and who knows? Maybe she’ll finally listen to him and what he has to say. Maybe she’ll take him back. Bakugou had set an alarm for himself and in the meantime took the opportunity to rest up.

—

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *click!*

Bakugou woke up from his nap and looked at the time. 1:55 p.m. Just about 20 minutes for him to get ready and meet with Y/N in gym gamma. He got up, changed into a sleeveless hoodie, sweats, and some combat boots. He grabbed his gym bag and went down to find Y/N.

Just as he stepped out of the dormitory he saw Y/N walking his way. Was he still dreaming or is that actually his dream girl walking up towards him.

“Hey, Bakugou, at least wait for me to get ready.” You said while hooking both your arms. Bakugou held a shocked expression as he looked down at where you both were linked and looked back up towards you.

“Uh..H-Hey Y/N! Uh..sorry, did you want me to wait for you?” He said still shocked.

“Uhhh yeah? I won’t take that long, c’mon Blasty.” You said so naturally as you dragged him to your room. Bakugou blushed at the old nickname but smiled as he was quick to walk by your side. On the way to your dorm, he tried to make small talk and this time you actually spoke back! You laughed with him (or more so at his shaky and nervous behavior) and smiled more. He waited for you on the outside to get ready and you guys walked back to the gym. Again, on the way there you both had fun loving conversations. It was almost like nothing changed.

You both entered the gym and began stretching.

“So what exactly is the problem with my reflexes, Blasty?” You asked while stretching. Bakugou froze mid stretch as he realized he lowkey disrespected Y/N by saying her reflexes had faltered. And he didn’t even mean it! He just said it because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Umm...you know...I’m not saying that- that there’s something wrong with your reflexes. You’re perfect!” He laughed out but froze at what he said again. He snapped his head towards you and saw you paused your stretching to give him a look. “No! Not perfect! Your reflexes are perfect! You know? You’re not perfect, your reflexes are!”

Again, you gave him another look and he froze up again. “No, no, no! I mean-“

“You just wanted to get me in here with you?”

“Yup.”

“Mm,” you said as you nodded your head and continued warming up. Bakugou sighed as he dropped his head back and groaned towards the ceiling. He hated how being around you now turned him into a pile of bleh.

You guys finally began a little sparring match. Bakugou may be a mess around you but you can always be sure that he has his head in the game. You were always a calm, cool, and collected person no matter what happened so your fight style never weakened.

You and Bakugou had been going on for awhile. You threw punches, kicks, and quirks and it was 3 to 2, with you in the lead. You guys had several rounds with different rules. No quirks, quirks only, stealth matches, and even a no rules battle.

Finally, it was the last fight and you and Bakugou were clearly exhausted. Bakugou wanted to end it now due to exhaustion and so he ran towards you and pounced. You failed to stop him and just allowed him to drop you. You both ended up tumbling around until he finally pinned you down with his face close to your.

“I-.....I win...” he said with a tired but victorious grin. He stared at your face as you did that cute little nose-scrunch thing that he loved whenever he beat you.

“What-...whatever. I let you win..Blasty,” you breathed out as he just laughed at you. You began to laugh too and you both stayed there for a little until his gaze remained on yours. You both stared at each other in awe and want as Bakugou released his hold on your wrist and placed his hands on the ground at the side of your head. He leaned in a little and you allowed your hands to wrap around his neck. You pulled him in until your lips met and softly danced across each other.

Bakugou slightly opened his eyes to look down at you and smiled as he realized you finally gave in. He closed his eyes once more and just enjoyed the moment. The kiss would’ve gone on forever if the need for oxygen didn’t exist. You both separated with a hazy look in your eyes. A string of saliva connected you both as your heavy breaths grew and a blush covered across your faces.

“..heh...” was all that Bakugou said as he sat up on his knees and allowed you to sit straight. He sat down next to you as silence filled the room. “Soo...that happened..”

You remained silent as the blush on your face remained and you got lost in thought. Bakugou looked at you in concern as he thought you were regretting the kiss until you spoke up.

“...I’ve missed you Katsuki....and...I forgive you.”

Bakugou’s eyes went wide as he smiled. He stood up and brought you along with him. He picked you up and held you in his arms as he spun you around. You squealed in excitement and joy as Katsuki held you tight and once he placed you on the ground again, he gave you a quick kiss.

“I’m not saying I don’t like whats happening but...why?” He asked with a smile and confused look in his eyes. You only smiled at him and settled down before you spoke.

“..Sero and Kaminari came and talked to me. They told me everything.” Bakugou’s eyes went wide at the mention of the two morons who ruined his relationship. But he smiled as he realized they were the reason you were talking to him again. He would have to thank their dumbasses later. “They’ve been telling me how upset you’ve been and how you actually did love me.” You explained.

“Did and still do,” he corrected and you laughed at his reply.

“Right. Anyway, I’m not gonna lie, it was wrong for you to place a bet on me but..you spent almost a whole year with me..and they told me it was only supposed to be for a few weeks. I guess that means...”

“That I really do love you? That I really do want to be with you for the rest of my life? That I do need you in my life as mine to be sane? Yeah, I know.” He laughed as he wrapped him arms around your waist and held you closer while you giggled back.

“Heh..yeah.” You said. Bakugou pressed his forehead against yours as you both reveled in the comforting feeling of each other. You stayed in the loving embrace of his arms as you smiled even more.

“I’m so sorry for doing that to you, Y/N. I should’ve never placed some stupid bet on you but I’m kinda glad I did....it brought me to the perfect one for me. I really, really love you, Teddy Bear.”

Bakugou softly kissed the crown of your head as he whispered loving words to you.

“You’re mine again.”

“Yeah Suki..I’m yours.”

A/N: I’m sorry if the ending felt rushed😖 I feel like this could’ve been better but I think im reaching a writer’s block. 

[th0tfairy]

Deku x tutor! Reader

📚✏️📖

You sigh as Koda pushes his sheet of paper away for the fiftieth time that night. He hates math. That’s understandable, you don’t like math either but you’re getting paid good money to put up with his tantrums for two hours a night.

“Cmon,” You say, “twelve divided by two. You know this.”

He crosses his arms.

You sigh as you try to explain to him in a different way. “If I have a dozen water balloons and give you half, how many do you have?”

He shakes his head.

“Koda,” you sigh, drawing out twelve circles. “Come on, let’s count it out.”

He looks at the two rows of six circles that you’ve scribbled. “Count each one.”

He counts to twelve.

“Circle the top half.” You tell him, manually putting the pencil in his hand. He does.

“Now count how many you have in the circle.”

“Six.”

“So twelve divide by two is...”

He grumbles and writes a 6 on his paper just as the door opens. Koda’s... brother? Walks in.

His red sneakers squeak on the tile as he makes his way towards the dining table where you’re tutoring Koda.

“Hi,” he says kindly, extending a hand to you. “We haven’t met. I’m Deku, Koda’s brother.”

“Not my real brother!” Koda snaps.

Deku’s hand is warm and sweaty. You take a look at his wet hair and face and workout clothes and figure he must’ve been at the gym. There’s a small spark when your hands pull away.

“Sorry,” he tells him, ruffling his hair. Koda shoves his hand away. “I meant his adoptive brother.”

“Go away!” Koda says, threatening him with a pencil.

“Okay! Sheesh,” Deku replies, gently sliding away. His lap slides against your ass when he tries to leave. You hear a tiny gasp escape from his lips as you jump and accidentally grind against him.

It only lasted a short second, but you could feel how big he was through his shorts. You clear your throat and go back to the worksheet.

“Fourteen divided by seven?” You ask as Deku walks away.

💦💧💦

As usual, Koda stretches the tutoring session to three hours. Their... dad? Invites you to stay for dinner and doesn’t take no for an answer.

So now you’re sitting with a plate of curry in front of you while Deku sits across the table. Neither of you look at each other.

“So, what did you learn today, Koda?”

Koda shrugs.

Their dad nods. “Nothing, huh? How exciting.”

You feel like this is a shot at you. “We did some division tonight. By twos.”

“Ah,” he says, “okay. Koda what is six divided by two.”

Koda shrugs.

You feel like you just wasted your time and his dad’s money. You eat your curry and stay silent.

“Go on Koda,” Deku encourages.

“Six...” he counts on his fingers, putting away half of them. “Three.”

His dad nods. “Alright. That was easy though. What’s twenty four divided by eight?”

Koda chokes on his food.

“You know it,” Deku says.

“I don’t know.”

“Just guess.”

“I don’t know!”

“You just said it.”

Koda frowns. You feel like you’ve failed him as a tutor.

“Three?” Koda mumbles.

And you all celebrate his lucky guess with a slice of cake for dessert. After you’re done eating, their dad gets Koda ready for bed as Deku walks you out.

“You live nearby?”

“Yeah. It’s just a short walk.”

He squints at the time. “It’s kinda late. I wouldn’t feel right letting you walk by yourself.”

“I walk all the time. And it’s not that late.” You insist.

“Come on, I need a little exercise.” He says before closing the door behind both of you.

You both walk on silence for a couple seconds. “More exercise?” You ask.

“Yeah,” he laughs. “I’ve actually been slacking off lately. I only did arms and back today.”

“Walking counts as leg day?”

He shrugs, freckled smile beaming in the dark. He has a great smile but all you can think about is his hard dick still ghosting on your back pocket.

You wonder if he’d taken a cold shower. He keeps looking back at you. “What?” You ask.

He shakes his head and looks away.

“What?” You repeat.

“Nothing,” he rubs his eyebrow, “just didn’t think you’d be this cute.”

You blush. “I didn’t think Koda’s adoptive brother would be this cute either...”

He licks his lips. “Yeah, I... the last thing I was expecting to see when I got home was a pretty thing like you at my dining table.”

You don’t say anything. You don’t trust your voice not to crack.

“Good enough to eat,” he blurts before smacking a palm over his mouth. “Sorry! I— I mean—“ you grab his veiny wrist and pull him aside.

“You wanna eat me?” You murmur.

He looks down at you with his brilliant green eyes before scooping you right up his strong hands. He slams your back against the wall of a nearby apartment complex and tugs your pants down.

You breathe into his hair as he leans his face into your neck. He uses green apple shampoo. His hairs still damp.

He grinds his dick into your panties. “You pitch a tent on our walk ?”

He laughs into your collarbone. “I’ve been hard since i left the gym. Usually goes down after I shower, but your ass kept me up.”

“My ass?”

He ticks his hands into your back pockets and squeezes your ass through them. “Thats right.”

He keeps you pinned to the wall with just his hips. You grind against his hard dick.

He groans, and the sound of his voice soaks you.

“Deku,” you moan.

He slips his finger into your panties and starts rubbing your clit. “More,” You mewl.

He grabs you and flips you so that your palms are pressed against the wall. He slips your pants down before spanking your ass a few times.

“I can’t get enough of this gorgeous ass.” He says, giving you a couple more slaps. You squeal as he starts squeezing his fingers into your flesh.

You reach behind you to feel his boner still standing up high. “Put it in,” you whine.

He takes your wrist and gently guides under his waistband. Feels you stroke his dick until you line him up against your slit. “Come on,” you mutter, pushing back.

It only just occurs to you that you’re in public, crying for his dick with your ass out. But he pushes the head in and you don’t care anymore.

“Ughhhhhnnn,” he groans, sliding deeper into your hot cunt.

He’s even bigger than you thought. You feel him stretching you with a pleasurable burn. “Baby,” you whine.

“I got you, baby,” he mumbles against your neck. He shifts out for a second before pushing back in, easier this time. Deku’s warm palms hold onto your back as he starts his deep, strong strokes.

“Fuck,” You mutter in the crack of the wall. He chuckles behind you.

“Hope you aren’t teaching Koda that.”

“He’s teaching me.” You respond, smiling. Your skins starting to get clammy and hot all over. Like a vague itch you can quite reach. You’re close.

“Ugh, goddamn,” he groans again. You wished you could see what he’s doing to you. How he’s slapping against your creamy lips.

You reach a hand down to rub your clit. He moves your hand away and starts rolling your clit himself. Even his fingertips are strong.

You clench around him and start screaming out as you hit your high. It must’ve set something off in him because a moment later he’s following, moaning and grunting through his release.

His hot come shoots inside of you before slipping out with him. You feel his rugged breath on your back as he comes down.

Your own breath is dense in the cold night air. You lean back to rest on his shoulder. You lay there until you both get fixed up and he finishes walking you home.

“See you tomorrow?” He asks, leaning down for a kiss.

You lick his lips and smile into the kiss. “After class.”

😚🌙🥰

[melancholymetropolis]

No Idea

Pairings: Athlete!Kirishima x PlusSize!Reader

Summary: College AU The reader is Kirishima's History tutor and they kinda have a crush on each other. It takes an afterparty filled with horny guys and a skin-tight dress for Kiri to realize he wants them all to himself.

Warning: Do I even need to say it at this point? It's smut, obvi. Kinda unedited. The reader and her best friend are black. Kirishima is a football player; he's VERY possessive over the reader. Her best friend is a little gay for her as well.

Author's Note: This was a commission!!!!! The client gave me this insane prompt and I had no choice but to go over the word limit. If you want to commission me, click here! Your support really means the world to me. Enjoy!

Word Count: 5,300

“You’re back early!” My roommate, Liza, yelled from the other side of the apartment-style dorm room. The sound of her chair scraping the floor followed shortly after, along with the light footsteps of her sock-clad feet. “I left you a plate in the microwave, in case you were hungry. I could heat it up, if you’re too tired— why the long face? What happened?”

“He didn’t show up,” I sighed as I dropped my books on the table and sank into a chair.

“How can he not show up?” Liza fumed crossing her arms. “His GPA is already in the gutter from all the other quizzes he seemed to fail before the semester even started.”

“I know,” I replied in a bored tone.

“He’s on academic probation—”

“I know.”

“One more hiccup and he’ll be off the football team—”

“I know.”

“Not to mention how you practically have to bend backward to make time for him—”

“Mhm.”

“Just for him to flake on you for the third time! I just—”

“Liza, please,” I rose from my seat and stood in front of her. “You don’t have to be angry with me. It’s truly okay.”

“No! It’s not okay!” She stormed to the microwave and pulled the cover plate from the inside. She removed the foil and pushed it back into the device, before pressing the start button four times. She turns to face me and forces an angered sigh from her lips. “He likes you, you know that right?”

I lifted my books from the table and walked to our shared room. I took in the words that she threw at me with each step and digested them. Kirishima liked me. It wasn’t as though I didn’t have an inkling that he may be, sorta found me attractive. Although I wore glasses, I wasn’t blind. At least with them on. I saw the way he looked at me when we were less than a foot apart. Shoulders practically touching as we slouched over the Advanced American History textbook. Our hands brushing against each other’s ever so often. The sparkle in his eye when he looked at me longer than a few seconds; the blush on his cheeks when I smiled at his corny jokes. His persistent tendency to walk me home, although most times, we finished our study sessions just before dusk. The way he stayed glued to my side during the journey to my dorm. How he’d carry my books on the way. I noticed it all and practically welcomed it, since I too found him attractive. The spiky redhead just had a way of making everyone swoon over him. Kirishima was genuinely a nice person, not because there was something in it for him, but just because.

The beeping from the microwave brought me back to reality. I placed the textbooks on the designated space on the shelf and fixed my scattered stationery from that morning. Liza shuffled in with a bowl of baked fetta pasta, and a piece of toasted garlic bread a few minutes later. She placed the bowl on the desk, with a fork, a can of sparkling soda, and my favorite metal straw.

“What did I do to deserve you?” I said with a tired smile.

“Helped me pass ‘Text and Ideas’ with an A-,” Liza smiled back and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Oh right,” I took a seat at the desk and forked the starchy dish in my mouth. “This is heaven-sent.”

“I knew you’d like it!” She deemed walking to her own desk. “I got the recipe from tiktok.”

I hum in response and continued to stuff my face. After a few minutes of silence, I grab the phone from my back pocket and unlocked it. A new message from Kirishima was the newest notification from many and it said:

Hey, I am sorry for not showing up. My teammate got shitfaced and decided to take a dive into the fountain. It took three of us to pull him out. It sucks because I was really looking forward to seeing you.

Since my mouth had already filled to its brink with pasta, I opted for a tight-lipped smirk instead of a toothy one. Kirishima all but admitted that he missed me. My hunch was right: the feelings are mutual. I swallowed the pasta and swiveled around in my chair to look at Liza. Her eyes were glued to her phone, but she snapped her head up to laugh at the content on her screen. Once she was down laughing, I picked my phone up and pointed it in her general direction. Reaching forward, she grasped the device and quickly read the message.

“Don’t respond to him,” she said, handing the phone back to me.

“Why? I thought you were shipping us together?” I asked whilst forking more pasta in my mouth.

“That’s why I’m telling you what I am telling you!” Liza rose to her feet and in a split second, she stood in front of me with a sickening smile.

“I am afraid to ask,” I said with a sigh.

“You don’t have to; I’m gonna tell you anyway,” she squats between my legs and widens her smile. “That boy is already wrapped around your finger, all you need to do is pull away. Just a tiny bit and he’ll come running.”

“Liza. . .”

“Hear me out!” She rose to her feet again and walked to the closet. “Remember when I went thrift shopping last week and I picked up that cute bodycon dress?”

“Yeah. . . ?”

“Well, I washed it and realized that it didn’t have the BODY to fill it out properly.” She pulls the dress from the closet and turns back to me. “And since the Homecoming Afterparty is at the Quarterback's house tomorrow night, I thought it would be the perfect time for you to wear it.”

I eye the dress, taking in its extremely short length and strappy detailing on the front. One wrong move and my breasts would spill right out of it. But, one right move would have them fall onto Kiri’s lap. I tried my best to list the pros and cons of the situation. Pondering what I could get out of the ordeal going to the lion’s den dressed as a gazelle. Yet, all I could imagine was me twerking on someone’s son and taking him home afterward.

💘🖤💘🖤

The dress fit like a glove: perfectly tight, almost like a second skin, but very breathable. I paired it with some hoop earrings, a few bangles on each wrist, and 3-inch kitten heels. My goal was to dress to impress, not nurse my aching arches by the end of the night. The entire ride over to the nicer part of town was nerve-wracking, for one, the Uber driver wouldn’t stop staring at my cleavage from the driver’s mirror. And, secondly, Liza practically had phone sex with her boyfriend, who was going to meet us at the party. I stared down at my phone the whole time, rereading Kiri’s message and the ones he sent afterward. It was true, he was wrapped around my finger. He didn’t double text; Kirishima sent five messages in a row.

Hey, are you free tomorrow? I wanted to talk about yesterday.

I’ll buy you that weird thing you like from Starbucks.

The drink you said that tastes like the moon.`

And I’ll get you those cake pop things.

My heart couldn’t help but flutter; I didn’t know he was paying that much attention to me. I only mentioned that Starbucks drink once in his presence, quite a while ago. It had to be a little over a month ago, yet he still remembered.

The car stopped and Liza popped right out. Her 34 inch Brazilian, straight swaying behind her as she closes the door. Still chatting with her boyfriend, she motions me out of the car with an eager smile. Reluctantly, I detach myself from the cool leather and tug on my dress as I closed the door behind me. I looked up toward the mansion before me, white paint and overwhelming size almost frightened me. But, when I saw a familiar, spiky-haired, redhead, all my potential fear left my body and warmth replaced it.

Kirishima’s back was to me; he was having an intense conversation with his best friend, Bakugo, one of the team’s Linebackers. The blond was so close to popping a fuse but Kiri was struggling to keep from laughing directly in his face. I approach the porch, slow and sensual, my eyes glued to him the entire walk over. Kirishima briefly turns around to address a comer of the group, Sero, an offensive player, when his eyes come up the steps. The humorous expression on his face drops and is replaced with awe. The other two boys look in the direction of his eyesight and replicate his reaction.

“Hi—” I lifted my hand to wave, but it never made it past my abdomen. Liza appeared right in front of me and captured my wrist.

“Girl, it’s our song! Hurry up!” She said as she proceeded to drag me into the house.

“Bye—! Wait, damn!”

Liza pulled me to the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the living room of the home. She starts to bop side to side, swaying her hips in place. It takes me a few seconds to register that “34+35” was blasting the speakers. Liza twirls around me in a fit of giggles and continues to bop along to the music.

“I thought you liked “positions” better than this track?” I questioned as I matched her rhythm.

“I do! I just had to get you out of there,” Liza answered as she swayed her head back and forth. Which made her hair move in an angelic wave behind her bandeau top and pencil skirt. “Those three guys looked like they wanted to run a train on you.”

“ELIZABETH!!!!” I screamed with a shocked smile.

“What?! I’m not lying!” She gives me a bashful smirk. “You look so good, mamas! Shit, you're making me rethink my relationship with Shinso.”

“Oh my god!” I laughed. “I can’t take your ass anywhere, for real!”

The song began to fade out and bleed into “Pussy Talk” with the infamous City Girls. Liza’s soft bops began to move into full booty bouncing. Soon her hands are on her knees and she’s throwing her ass back on my lap. I press my hand flat on her back and lift my other hand in the air. She whines her waist and looks back at me as her inner hot girl is threatening to make an appearance. Shortly after the first verse, Liza straightens her back and dances around me as I bop to the side, bouncing my ass to the music. A smile comes to my lips as my favorite part plays on full blast.

“Pussy talented, it do cartwheels,” Liza and I screamed in unison. “And he pay ‘cause he like how that part feel.”

“Pussy give speeches, heartfelt,” I continued, popping my back against my friend.

“Yuh,” Liza ad-libbed.

“Said the pussy really talk like it Garfield,” I rapped as I felt Liza’s hands glide up my sides.

“It do!”

We danced around each other for the rest of the song and pulled away from the floor, desperately needing to hydrate. We practically stumbled toward the makeshift bar across the living room. We reached into the cooler and pulled out two bottles of water. We chugged the water and tossed the empty bottles in the trash.

“Only water, ladies?” Mineta asked as we turned back towards the dance floor. “You don’t want something a little. . . stronger?”

“Get lost, grape juice,” a familiar voice suddenly came out of nowhere.

Just a few feet behind the purple blob stood Kirishima and Shinso. If looks could kill, Mineta’s body parts would be staining the marble floors and messing up my fresh pedicure. The poor excuse for a human scurried away as both football players approached us. Shinso instantly wrapped his arms around Liza and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Having fun, baby girl?” His low voice sounded sensual against the harsh music.

A seductive smile falls on Liza’s face. “I would’ve had even more fun if you actually danced with me for once.”

“You know I don’t like—”

“Too bad!” She pulled Shinso to the dance floor.

Leaving me alone with Kirishima. I turned to look at him and offered him an awkward smile. “How was your diving lesson?”

The redhead returned my smile and scratched the back of his neck. “So you did read me my texts? I was starting to think you were mad at me or something.”

“Not at you, per se,” I replied thinking of my words carefully.

“Then who were you mad at?” Kirishima closes the distance between us and puts a finger under my chin. He redirects my attention to his face and gives me a smirk.

He looked good and he knew it. He wore a simple white t-shirt and black ripped jeans. But, he paired it with a burgundy leather jacket and a Cuban link silver chain. He had a gold wristwatch on his left wrist and a simple chain on his right. And his cologne. . . it danced in my nostrils. It wasn’t too heavy or suffocating; you simply had to be close to him to smell it.

Kirishima was playing a dangerous game and he knew it.

“At the people that take you away from me,” I looked at him with doughy eyes and slightly parted lips. A look of innocence was written all over my face.

Kirishima clenched his jaw and briefly looked away. A blush starting to form on his cheeks. “Well, I—. Shit.” He remained silent for a few seconds, gathering his words, before saying “You don’t know what you do to me, Y/N.”

“And what’s that?” I asked while removing his hand from my chin and bringing it to my lips. I gently kiss his bruised knuckles, never breaking eye contact while doing so.

The redhead opens his mouth to speak but is rudely interrupted by a yelling Liza.

“GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, BITCH!!!! THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG!!!!”

While I was talking to Kirishima, the music seemed to slip away. I had no idea what was playing until I refocused my attention on the blaring speakers. “Come on, Kiri. Duty calls.” I drag him to the dance floor.

Liza unlatches herself from Shinso and twirls around me. “I’m not shy, I’ll say it. I’ve been picturing you naked.”

“I’m a little faded, you look like a fucking painting,” I continue the verse as I glide my hands along my body. “Big doe eyes, amazin’. She’s everything I’ve been prayin’.”

Liza walked up to Kirishima and glided her hand along his chest. “Me and your girlfriend playin’ dress-up house.” She pressed two fingers against her lips and poked her tongue out. “I gave your girlfriend cunnilingus on my couch.”

Kirishima blushes a bright red, nearly matching his hair. It takes everything in me not to laugh.

I look back at Shinso and he’s just shaking his head with a smile on his face.

“Go get your girlfriend, before she devours your teammate,” I said giggly quietly.

“Go get your best friend before she kills your loverboy,” Shinso counters looking down at me with a smirk.

“He looks like he's gonna pass out,” I replied, struggling to contain my laughter.

“If you think that’s bad, you should’ve seen him when you were twerking on Liza,” Shinso jested while leaning closer to me. “Eijiro looked like he came in his pants.”

I smacked his arm and leaned against his chest. “You’re lying!” Laughter overcame my body; tears were gathering in the corners of my eyes.

“I swear to god,” Shinso struggled to say while laughing. “Then, when Bakugo called you hot. . . Eiji almost went feral.”

“Stop. . . I can’t breathe. . .”

“You better fuck him like the world is ending. . . I can’t keep stopping him from. . . fighting the entire team over you.”

“You and Liza. . . perfect for each other. . . I cannot. . .”

The song swiftly faded out into another. Yet another one of Liza’s favorites: Buss it by Erika Banks.

The young woman peeled herself from Kirishima and began walking to her boyfriend. I distanced myself from Shinso and walked over to Kirishima. I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. “Are you okay, Kiri?” A smile painted my lips.

His eyes darkened and he gripped my waist firmly. “I want you. . . so bad right now.”

“How about we get outta here?” I suggested with a raised eyebrow.

“Go say goodbye to your friends, I’ll bring the car around,” Kirishima asserted with a smirk. He pressed a kiss to my forehead before detaching himself from me and walking out of the living room.

I turned back to Shinso and Liza, who were seconds away from eating each other’s face off. I tapped the loving couple and cleared my throat. They both pulled away and stared at me.

"We're leaving," I said simply.

"About fucking time," Liza replied with a smirk. "You better come back to the dorm in a goddamn wheelchair, if not, I'm sending you back to his place."

"You have like zero chill," I shook my head and waved goodbye.

"Don't forget to use protection!" Liza yelled after me.

A chuckle fell from my lips as I walked out of the front door. I found Kirishima exactly where he said he'd be: parked in front of the massive house, within a bright red mustang. He exited the car and walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle. He opened my door and helped me get in. Kirishima made sure I was buckled in and comfortable before entering the car on the driver's side.

He starts the vehicle, and places his right hand on my thigh. He gives the plush fresh a securing squeeze before pulling away from the curb.

The drive was short and sweet, averaging around ten minutes. We parked across the street from the boys’ dorm hall and exited the car. Kirishima opened my door and helped me out of the vehicle.

"If you don't want this, I could always take you home," he said as he shut my door. "I don't want to pressure you into anything."

"I want this more than you know," I responded while gripping his hand. "But, if I ever feel uncomfortable, I'll let you know."

Kirishima nods and smiles. "Good girl. Now let's go."

The moment his dorm's door closed, his body was pressed against mine and his hand glued to my waist. His lips massaged against my own, slow and sensually. I moaned against the kiss, and pressed my body closer to his. He felt so good attached to me, almost like he was meant to be against me. His searing hot kisses inched down my jawline and to my neck. Kirishima's hands slid up my abdomen and to my shoulders, he slipped the straps from the curved surface and pulled away just enough just to allow me to remove them from my arms.

He kissed the other side of my neck, leaving little bites here and there. The redhead ran his tongue against my collarbones and I swear a flood rushed to my nether regions. Kirishima kissed down and left my breast, gathering the anticipation that swirled through my body before latching his lips on my nipple. A throat my moan fell from my mouth and my legs jolted slightly. My mind continued to fog as he nestled against the sensitive bud, while happily moaning against the soft flesh. I pressed one hand against the front door and another in his hair.

Pants left my lips as I began to squirm underneath his body. "Take me to the bed, please," I begged while looking down at him. " I want you so bad, Kiri."

The redhead detached himself from my breast and gripped my chin. "Say my name, baby." His red eyes stared deeply into my brown ones, taking in every little detail of my expression.

"Eijiro," I said breathlessly.

"Say it again," he broke eye contact and gripped my waist.

"Eijiro."

His hands slipped down the curve of my rear and to my legs. He lifted limbs from off the ground and wrapped them around his waist. I wrapped my arms around his leg immediately afterward and giggled.

He walked further into the dorm room and passed through another dorm. He sits me on the extra-long twin bed and falls to his knees between my legs. Kiri unlatches my strappy heel and tosses it to the other side of the room. While he does the other foot, a smirk presses against his lips.

"What?" I asked while looking down at him.

"I'm just thinking about how this started," he said while smiling. "How my shifty grades gave me the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Stop it," I counter with a blush on my face. "You're exaggerating."

"Baby, I mean it with every fiber of my being when I say this," he leaned forward. "I've wanted to be with you for a while now, I just didn't know if you'd like me back. And I was kinda ashamed of taking so long to say something because you're so sweet and you really helped me a lot with Advanced American History. I didn’t want you to think I was using you for information or anything."

I leaned forward and pressed my lips on his forehead. "I liked you even before I officially knew you. When you beat the shit out of that guy that tried to home a drunk girl."

"I don't even remember that."

"It was during a Halloween party last year, that was when I first saw you. And I thought, "wow I wish more men like him existed in this world"."

"I can't believe you remember that."

"How could I not? You basically saved that girl's life and dignity. You were the only human being in a room full of predators. That's when I knew I wanted you for myself."

Kirishima laughs. "Greedy, little Y/N."

I shrugged.

"Come here."

I gathered the football player into my arms and pressed my lips onto his. Taking in every ounce of his kiss. Sucking on his bottom lip. Slipping my tongue within his mouth. Tugging against his collar to close the distance between us. After a few seconds, Kirishima kissed down my body again until he was face to face with my heated center. He scrunched the dress around my waist and pulled my panties off my legs before spreading my legs wide open.

"Oh… look how wet you are, baby," he kissed the soft skin in between my thighs. "All for me."

Kirishima dipped his head between my legs and took a long swipe at the sticky mess between them. A shiver ran along my spine, Arching my back, I released a soft whimper and spread my legs further apart. He dipped his tongue into the smooth canal repeatedly, bobbing his head as he completed the action. His calloused hands slid up my legs once more and hooked around my thighs. Kiri moved his hot mouth from the very bottom of my womanhood to the top, leaving a long string of spit along the way. The redhead sucked on the protruding bud tenderly; with hollowed cheeks, he looked up from my heat and stared into my eyes. I bit my lip and moaned loudly.

“Fuck, you feel good,” I arched my back against his mouth and bucked my hips slowly.

Kirishima released my bud with a silent “pop” and began lapping the rosy, pink button in great haste. My legs jolted at the new source of stimulation and a throaty whine fell from my lips. Squeezing my eyes shut, I squirmed underneath his mouth, desperately wanting to add more friction. Kiri noticed my slutty movements and began to move his tongue even faster.

“Ah. . . just like that, don’t stop,” my fingers gathered my bosoms and gave them a firm squeeze. The walls of my slick cave began to clench and release themselves at a faster pace. Tingles rose up my body, swirling against my lower abdomen, almost numbing my lower half entirely. Then, a searing sensation ripped through me, causing my hips to raise from the bed and my knees to shake. A low scream left my mouth as I felt the throbbing of my bud increase tremendously.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck!” My hips fell on the bed again and my legs shook violently. Kirishima steadied them as much as he could before a whole another wave hit my body and my entire being went still.

“Ah! Eijiro!” I screamed as the pleasure shot through my body for the last time. Pants left my throat and short spurts, just as sweat dripped from my forehead. I looked down at Kirishima, who had just pulled away from my spasming cunny. He had a look of astonishment on his face, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked down at my wrecked body, taking in the shaking limbs, the thin layer of sweat upon it, and the scrunched-up dress at the waist.

“You sounded so hot screaming my name,” he finally said after a few seconds of silence. “No one has ever made it sound so good as you.”

“Well, grab a condom and I’ll scream your name for the rest of the night,” I replied with a smirk. “If you can last that long.”

“Oh, baby,” Kiri’s smile widened. “You have no idea.”

He walked over to his dresser and pulled out a box of condoms from the top drawer. He ripped one off the sleeve and walked back over to me. I pulled the scrunched-up dress over my head and tossed it to the side. I looked over at Kiri and he’d already stripped himself of his T-shirt. He was currently unbuckling his belt with the condom packet in his mouth. His massive bulge immediately caught my eye and I moaned in anticipation. Kirishima rips the packet open with his teeth and rolls latex down his throbbing shaft. My walls clench at the delicious sight and I could feel my nipple begin to stiffen

“If you’re still tired, we can wait a little—” Kirishima begins to say before I cut him off.

“Eijiro, stop being nice and fuck me like a slut.”

His lips were on mine within the next heartbeat. His hands roamed every crevice of my body, taking in the soft tissue and stretchmarks lovingly. His throbbing member slowly slid into me with little to no friction. He made sure to thumb my clitoris while inserting himself, just so he wouldn’t hurt me. And I swear, I was seconds away from asking him to marry me. He gently moved his hips backward, and then pushed forward again. Highlighting his first stroke. He looked at the crimson hue on my face and leaned down to kiss me.

“You are so pretty, princess,” Kiri groaned softly, as he moved his hips at a gentle pace. “So, so pretty.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him again. Our tongues danced together as his member tenderly kissed my sensitive walls with each thrust. Kirishima moaned against my lips, as he took in every part of that union. He hiked up one of my legs and hooked it around his waist while he cradled the back of my neck with the other. He looked into my eyes as he increased the pressure of his strokes and their depth. My mouth hung open, and drool poured from the side of it as he kept up the sickening pace. My eyes began to roll back as throat moans rose from the depth of my body.

“Oh God. . .” I slurred as the pleasure increased within my body.

“Aww look at my pretty baby,” Kiri grunted as he rested his hand on my neck. He pressed his thumb between my lips.

I sucked on the digit and looked into his eyes. He moved his hips faster and my lips separated from around the finger. Pants fell from my lips as I felt his member sensually assault my cervix. After a few minutes, Kirishima suddenly pauses and hikes one of my legs up to his shoulders. He readjusts his body, leaving his hand on my neck and placing his hand on my clit. Kiri began to rock his hips in a powerful, but steady motion. He rubs the throbbing bud in a gentle motion, slowly gathering every ounce of pleasure within my body. The pace of my breathing increased rapidly, as the pool in my stomach began to inflate. Whimpers fell from my lips as I gripped the sheets underneath me.

“I’m so close. . .” I whispered through tight lips. “Please don’t stop. . .”

“You’re squeezing me so deliciously tight, baby,” Kirishima grunts as a droplet of sweat drops from his brow. “Milking my cock for everything it’s worth. What a greedy little cunny you have.”

“Eijiro. . . I wanna cum so bad,” I whimpered through pants. “Please let me cum, baby.”

Kirishima curses under his breath and releases his hand from my throbbing bud. He places both hands onto my neck, thumbs pressing against my jaw. He eases his body forward and keeps his sickening pace. “You’re gonna be the death of me, I swear.”

I sucked in a breath and wrapped my hands around his forearms. I furrow my brows and pant with my mouth open. “You make me feel so good, Eiji. So fucking good!”

“You’re mine, you hear me?” He drops his hands from my neck and presses his forehead to mine. “You don’t get to fuck anyone else. . . . .You don’t get to be with anyone else. . . .My name will be the only name you moan for the rest of your life, do you understand?”

I nod. “I understand.”

“You’re mine and no one else's.”

He pulls me into a searing hot kiss. Drinking in all the love and energy throughout my body. I hook my arms around his neck and moan against his lips. Suddenly, I felt an intense rush of adrenaline pass through my body and everything seemed to go silent. A low ringing noise sounded in my ear as my mouth fell open. I dug my arms into his back and clung to his body. Every fiber of my being tensed and my mind went completely blank for several seconds. Then, slowly, my body released itself and collapsed onto the bed. I opened my eyes lazily to see Kirishima’s eyes tightly closed and his hips slightly shaking. Once he finished his ride, his body relaxed and he lowered my leg from his shoulder. He pulled me into an embrace and pressed another kiss onto my lips.

I pulled away from the kiss and looked into his crimson eyes. “Were you serious about calling me yours?”

“Ugh. . . yes?” He replied hesitantly. Then, he added “If that’s okay with you! I don’t wanna force you—”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I cut him off with a smirk.

“Oh, I was worried for a second.”

“The only thing you should be worried about is your Advanced American History grade.”

���Oh, right. . .”

“You miss another one of my sessions, I’ll ignore you again.”

“Please don’t! I will be present at every session.”

“Good. And you have to be Starbucks.”

“The drink that tastes like the moon?”

“Matcha latte with 2 pumps of chai. Yup.”

“And two chocolate cake pops.”

“Mhm. You know me so well.”

[gyusbambi]

humph; han seojun (pt 5)

click here for humph masterlist!

story: frenemies to enemies to lovers, high school au

synopsis: seojun and you have known each other since kindergarten. you’re neighbors and even attended the same singing and piano classes. despite knowing each other for such a long time, you don’t enjoy spending time with seojun. even though you are aware of his unfairness, you keep spending time with him. when will you finally leave your childhood frenemy?

note:  this is the last part of the series! i’m thankful for everyone who liked, commented and shared this fanfiction it really means a lot to me! through this series i gained many followers, i never imagined that this would get so many likes! again, hope you enjoy the last part and stay tuned for many other fictions hehe. humph! is a story inspired by pentagon’s “humph! / 접근금지”. originally, this is a seungyeon fanfiction, which i posted on my wattpad. words: ~4k

words cannot describe your current feelings. all you can say is that everything feels unreal and odd. indeed, you’re no longer able to focus on your work. all because of that night. all because of stupidly drunk han seojun.

why did you have to pick him up? why didn’t you just call someone else? thanks to his actions, you feel emotionally confused. not to mention, you are frightened to go to school. 

can you imagine how awkward it’s going to be if seojun remembers the night? without doubt, your heart would get broken because you just know he’s going to apologize for kissing you. he’ll tell you it happened because he was drunk and definitely not because he feels anything for you.

memories from that night fill your head and it’s the only thing you can think of for the rest of the weekend. 

not until your mother forces you to visit the han’s with her. no wonder you refuse to go, han seojun kissed you! of course, neither your mother nor your brother understand your panicked actions when you drop on your knees, hiding your face in your palms dramatically. both of them end up dragging you to the han’s, ignoring your annoying whines.

seojun’s mum greets you with excitement when you eventually arrive at their front door. stepping in with your trembling body, you look around in paranoia, checking if seojun’s home. while doing so, you fail to notice juyeong giving you a side glance with narrowed eyes.

you: chorong please pick me up from seojun’s house

quickly you type your friend a text message before entering the living room, where gowoon waves at you happily.

kim chorong: you’re at seojun’s?! 

kim chorong: can i guess what you’re doing ;)

your phone rings two times in a row, making all eyes land on you. laughing it off, you put your phone on mute before typing chorong a reply.

you: ew no please just save me from here okay?

the conversation between the mums continue and suddenly your brother asks if seojun is home. gowoon replies that he probably got out of the shower just now, which puts you in a panicked situation. 

i need to get outta here

but like always, the universes loves playing with you right on time because the next thing you see is seojun walking out of his room, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, hand ruffling his wet hair. trying your best not to make eye contact, your gaze darts around the whole room. 

after greeting your mother and juyeong, seojun’s eyes land on your awkward figure. no longer able to avoid his gaze, you look right back at seojun, cheeks turning into a red color. you can’t do anything but blink since you’re extremely nervous. if he does remember everything from that night, you want to get swallowed by the floor beneath you. if he doesn’t, you certainly will try your best to remain calm and unsuspicious. 

“do you have a moment?”, without waiting for too long seojun grabs your wrist after putting the towel away.

“f-for what?” you manage to speak as your panicked posture suddenly stiffens.

“science project.”, the boy comes up with an average excuse while trying to ignore the surprised looks everyone is giving him as he practically drags you to his own room.

what if he knows?!

from all the heart racing, you’re sure that you’ll end up in the hospital one day. it technically pounds heavily in your chest when you’re head is going through every possible answer you could give seojun when he asks you about the kiss. 

after pulling you into his room, seojun closes the door behind you before pushing your body against it. in only seconds, his palm presses against it, right next to your face. it reminds you of the time when he questioned you about his motorcycle keys in the hallways. thankfully, his face isn’t as close as back then. you’re pretty sure, you would’ve fainted by now.

“so what about the science project, haha?” words finally leave your mouth when you realize seojun isn’t going to say anything but stare at your flustered face.

“about that...”, seojun mutters in a quiet tone as he leans in slowly. the only thing you can do is avoid his gaze while gulping, thinking that he probably remembers the kiss. yet, when he doesn’t stop getting closer, lips almost touching yours, you push him away in a swift move, eyes wide in shock,

“what the hell!”

han seojun doesn’t seem surprised. he only scratches his neck, eyes darting around his room before finally landing on your panicked figure,

“i had to do an experiment.”

“w-what experiment? are you kidding me?”

more confused than ever, you question with a flushed face. however, seojun sighs to reveal his exhaustiveness, hands hiding his face before rubbing his brow to ward off his headache,

“i- something happened friday night and i can’t stop thinking about it.”

acting like you don’t know what happened, you continue to look at him with confusion.

“i drank a little bit too much and can’t really remember anything except for one detail- but apparently someone came to pick me up and brought me home. i asked the worker who it was and he told me it was my neighbor.”

when seojun trails off and shakes his head with furrowed eyebrows you hold yourself back from letting out a relieved sigh. 

he doesn’t know it was you. it’s like all the worries leave your body before the boy starts talking again,

“isn’t that weird? i mean why would my neighbor come to get me, it’s not like i’m close to any of them. also, which neighor? he said it was a girl around your height with y/h/c hair. the only neighbor that comes to my mind is lee minji but there’s no chance i could have kissed her.”

“you did what?”, although knowing exactly what he did, your eyes widden in horror when you notice that he remembers the kiss but not the person. seojun realizes what he just said and tries to explain everything in a rushed tone,

“look, i don’t know why i did it. i was drunk! besides that, i’m not even sure if it was her, or anyone! what if it’s just a false memory? or a dream?”

the young boy feels like he needs to justify himself to you when he catches glimpse of the worry hiding in your eyes. han seojun doesn’t want you to think that he would kiss anyone just like that. in fact, he wouldn’t want to kiss anyone but you. 

but that’s not what you’re thinking at the moment. the only thing you can focus on is seojun’s statement leaving his mouth a few seconds ago: “i was drunk!”

of course, he was. how could you even have the smallest hope that he kissed you because he wanted to? ashamed of your expectations, you clear your throat and look away, playing with the rings on your fingers.

“oh man, that sucks!”, you chuckle falsely, “don’t worry about it too much. it could happen to anyone, you know?”

“i think about it day and night, thought.”, seojun rubs his neck, eyes fixed on the carpet on the floor.

“why? was it that special for you?”, laughing you push his shoulder playfully.

unexpectedly, seojun looks up to meet your eyes and blinks,

“it was.”

your heart drops. your body freezes on spot. your eyes stare into his. 

hearing this shocked you, why was it special to him? without doubt, it was special to you too. precisely, you remember his soft lips on yours, warm touch on your face.

breaking the stare, you shake your head and look around, “just forget about it.”

after a short silence, your eyes finally land on something certain on seojun’s desk. taking a few steps closer, you are able to take a closer look at the item. picking up the polaroid picture, you smile at the photo of you sleeping on seojun’s shoulder in the bus. your arm was wrapped around his torso, his look fixed on you.

“where did you get this?”, turning around with the picture still in your hands, you show it to seojun with a happy face.

“o-oh that? the others took it while you were sleeping.”

“i didn’t know you had this.”

“yeah, i kinda just forgot hahahaha.”

“sure you did!”, suddenly kim chorong bursts into the room with a teasing smile,

“i’m here, y/n. but it seems like you don’t need me anymore.”

“why are you here?”, seojun frowns.

“she told me to come! it’s not always about you.”, sticking out this tongue, your friend shrugs and lets himself fall on seojun’s bed,

“what are we doing today? how about noraebang?”

_

brushing his fingers over the multiple lipsticks, seojun’s eyes focus on a certain pink one. hesitantly, he picks it up to take a closer look before putting it back to its place.

“do they have strawberry ones?”, he asks his sister who looks for something specific. gowoon asked his brother if they could go to the mall together, since she’s been getting into make up these days and therefore needs more products.

“what?”

“like strawberry lip balms.”

“why do you need one?” she laughs at her brother who seems a little unsure.

“just because!” seojun tries to hide everything when he notices his sister making fun of him.

when she eventually shows him the lip balms and he’s able to smell all of them, seojun gives up. the boy went through several lip balms but couldn’t find the right one. maybe he should just give up looking for signs.

“why is everyone so obsessed with them? y/n owns plenty of them, it‘s insane.“

juyeong, who happened to tag along with gowoon and seojun, lets out a sigh as he watches the older boy.

“she does?“, suddenly seojun is interested in something that juyeong says.

“absolutely. you can ask her, you know?“

“i should ask her as well! she seems to like make up!“, gowoon smiles excitedly.

although juyeong is aware of his sister‘s lack of skills in make up, he still nods almost to quickly,

“definitely, you should! you can come to our house since she‘s always home anyway.“

seojun no longer listens to the younger‘s conversation, but instead thinks about what juyeong said earlier.

_

running to get in class on time has become a regular thing for you. once again, your legs move in super speed in the empty hallways as you hold tight on your heavy books. not even realizing your open backpack hanging on your right shoulder, you struggle to breathe normally. 

you become interested in your untied shoes while running and suddenly bump into someone else, because you didn’t look ahead.

in a swift move the person steadies you to keep you from falling. still, your backpack drops from your shoulder and causes all of your belongings to drop on the floor. 

too distracted from the mess that got created, you quickly kneel down to collect your books and folders,

“shoot!” you mutter, extremely stressed from the fact that you’re losing more time.

“running late again, zombie?”

you realize it’s han seojun when he bends down to help you pick up your stuff. after collecting some of your folders and books, his eyes focus on a certain lip balm placed next to your foot. instantly he reaches for it with a frown, your books still in his other hand.

completely stressed out, you rapidly stuff all of your supplies into your backpack and fail to notice seojun observing every small detail of your lip balm. as you finally look up, you take your books away from seojun’s grip and hold them in your hands instead of putting them back in, so that you can save some time,

“thank you.”, before you can leave seojun stands in front of you, holding your strawberry lip balm. after smelling it, he raises his eyebrows at you,

“is this yours?”

“oh, yes! thanks.” unaware of his thoughts, you take the item from his hand with a smile and put it into the pocket of your blazer. 

and then seojun just stands there, watching you sprint to your next class. 

he’s about to lose his mind. 

_

patting his skin dry with a towel after washing it with cold water, seojun’s gaze darts around the school’s gym. his eyes look for you in the big hall filled with students, who came to watch the basketball game. the young boy is sure to have seen you sitting in the first row with lee suho during the game. however, it seems like you are nowhere to be seen. did you maybe leave with lee suho?

frustrated and tired at the same time, seojun approaches his friend kim chorong only seconds after the game,

“do you know where y/n is?”

“y/n? i’m not quite sure. she was here during the whole game, thought.”, chorong shrugs with a small pout forming on his lips.

“how did she leave so fast?”, seojun sighs annoyed before someone suddenly hits his back forcefully,

“if you’re looking for y/n, she just left with lee suho.”, sua tries to hide her teasing smile.

“with lee suho? why? where did they go?”

“she told me she lost her bracelet and wanted to find it.”, sua crosses her arms,

“they’re probably looking in the hallways or something.”

hearing that, seojun instantly drops his bag and runs out of the gym hall, ignoring his friend’s calls.

“yah, where are you going? we’re gonna celebrate your win!”, kim chorong yells only to turn to sua after seojun is out of his sight. they both share a smile before high fiving,

“good job.”

“taehoon just called me. suho left y/n. she’s alone in the hallways, looking for that bracelet.”

“as expected, cupid team never fails.”

_

seojun slows down when he turns the next corner. finally reaching the hallway of the third floor, his steps echo in the empty area. it’s dark outside and many students already left the building right after the end of the basketball game, leaving only seojun and you in the dark hallway of the third floor. 

eventually the young boy spots you near your classroom, searching for your bracelet with worried eyes. he notices how you run your hand through your hair, upset that you lost something so important. seojun hides behind the wall, still questioning if he should approach you. strangely, suho is not around which makes him question everything.

while thinking about leaving, seojun’s eyes land on a specific item placed right next to the plant on his right side. surprised, he picks up the flower bracelet, which he gifted you after he apologized on the last day of the school trip, and stares at it for a short while. 

hesitantly, seojun finally steps out and approaches you with a more relaxed figure. 

letting out a yelp, you turn around in a swift move when you feel two hands placing on your shoulders. with widen eyes you face han seojun standing only a few inches away from you. pressing a palm on your chest, you sigh in relief,

“you scared me. again.”

“looking for this?”, ignoring your annoyed eyes, he swings your bracelet in his right hand.

“how- where did you find it? i was looking everywhere!”, quickly you snatch it away from him to place it around your wrist tightly, making sure it won’t slip out this time.

“is it so important that you spend hours searching in this building?” seojun rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest, “you should go home now. it’s really late.”

“yes. it is important to me.” you mutter and glare at the boy in front of you before thanking him.

after that, suddenly silence takes over the room. you are too busy adjusting the bracelet on your wrist, while seojun only watches you with a curious gaze. he seems to be lost in his own thoughts. 

it’s true that he’s seen you wear it every single day.

he’s also certain about the smell of your strawberry lip balm. seojun is a little bit angry at himself, for remembering every small detail of the kiss, but not the face of the person he shared it with. maybe he’s just tricking himself about it. maybe it is actually you, who he kissed that night.

thinking of the only way to find out, the boy interrupts the long silence as he puts his hand into the pocket of your blazer, taking out the specific strawberry lip balm. you’re more than surprised and freeze on spot when he places the tip of the container on your bottom lip and applies it on your lips. 

absolutely taken aback, you fail to notice seojun taking a few steps closer to you, his body almost attached to yours now. it doesn’t take him long to lift up your chin, enabling your eyes to meet his. they look into yours with so much intensity that your cheeks start glowing from the heat. once again, your heart pounds aggressively in your chest as the young boy nears his face to yours. from all your experiences till now, you feel the most nervous now. not to mention, confused from his sudden actions. (*insert “i’m the mood for dancing” by yuju*)

last time he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing.

now he’s completely aware of his actions.

instantly you close your eyes shut, waiting impatiently for his lips to touch yours. both of you have been longing feel this feeling again, never able to get rid of the memory from friday night. seojun tilts his head slightly before finally placing his lips on your soft ones. 

and in the exact moment, when he tastes the strawberry flavor on your lips, his heart speeds up, his hands hold your warm face, he knows it’s you. he realizes that it was you, who picked him up and you, who he kissed with so much emotion.

firmly you grip onto seojun’s t-shirt when your knees feel weak. as a result the boy only smiles against your lips before his hands move from your face to your waist, pulling you to his body. running one hand up and down your waist, he continues moving his lips against yours.

before you have the chance to move yours arms to wrap them around his neck, seojun slowly pulls away. you open your eyes to see him licking his bottom lip with a small smile. somehow you’re unable to meet his eyes when he lets out a chuckle,

“thought i wouldn’t find out sooner or later?”

“h-how did you know it was me?”, you whisper, grip still tight on his shirt.

“strawberry taste.” 

his simple answer surprises you, “oh, right...”

seojun caresses your face in his hands as he notices your shy tone to make you look at him,

“why didn’t you just tell me?”

“i thought you didn’t mean it since you were extremely drunk.”

“ah, y/n. you haven’t changed at all, have you?”

hearing seojun suddenly laugh makes you even more confused,

“what do you mean?”

“you’re always so oblivious about everything like my feelings towards you.” seojun smiles at you adoringly and pushes a few strands of hair behind your ear.

“you-”

“i like you, y/n. have been the whole time.”

“you were always mean to me, how was i supposed to know?”, slighlty pouting, you push his shoulder playfully.

“you’re right and i’m sorry about that. i was so focused on hiding my feelings that i didn’t realize i was hurting you. i didn’t want you to think that i liked you.”

“you succeeded.”

“yeah,” seojun scratches his neck while looking into your eyes, “still haven’t gotten an answer from you, y/n.”

taking his hand, you rub the back of it before kissing his right cheek,

“i like you too, seojun.”

seojun melts. he feels his happiest and his cheeks turn into the shade of a tomato.

“look at us. who would’ve thought?”, you laugh at his shyness.

“not me.”, seojun smiles before pulling you in for another kiss.

_

the cold hair hits your face as you sit on a swing while seojun pushes you. swinging your feet with a big smile on your face, you glance behind your shoulder quickly to see seojun looking at you with adoring eyes.

“higher!”, you scream, catching the kids’ attention on the playground for a short second.

therefore, your boyfriend pushes you with more force as he tries to hide his amused grin, “as you wish, my highness. but you’re scaring the kids away, don’t you think?”

“feels like we’re kids again.”, you remember your childhood moments with seojun.

“enough for now. when is it my turn?”, seojun pouts playfully, still pushing you on the swings.

“i said ten minutes not five, seojun.”

both of you laugh hysterically at your remark before he firmly grips on the chain of the swing, making it stop abruptly. before you can turn around to look at him with a frown, your boyfriend places a kiss on your left cheek, causing them to turn into a shade of bright pink.

“i love you.”

“i love you too, seojunnie.”

that’s all seojun needs to hear before pushing you on the swing again, heart melting in his chest.

and in the end of the day he knows that you’ll always be there for him. and you know that he’ll be right there too.

_

the end!

this is the last part of the series “humph; han seojun”. firstly, i hope you liked the ending and the story in total. secondly, i wrote this story because i noticed that there aren’t many han seojun fics! i thank everyone for giving me all the love that i don’t deserve. thirdly, please stay tuned for more fanfictions! be aware that i’m open for requests, feedback and everything nice. love you and stay safe,

your writer renjunes